


Another Nightmare, Another Disaster

by alivebutdeadinside_6_6_6



Series: Nightmare After Nightmare [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Good Sibling Allison Hargreeves, Good Sibling Ben Hargreeves, Good Sibling Diego Hargreeves, Good Sibling Klaus Hargreeves, Good Sibling Vanya Hargreeves, M/M, Protective Allison Hargreeves, Protective Ben Hargreeves, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Protective Klaus Hargreeves, Protective Number Five | The Boy, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:42:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 22
Words: 67,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26795302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alivebutdeadinside_6_6_6/pseuds/alivebutdeadinside_6_6_6
Summary: Reginald Hargreeves is dead, and Five just fell from the sky...What the fuck is going on?
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & Diego Hargreeves, Allison Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Allison Hargreeves & Luther Hargreeves, Allison Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Diego Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz, Number Five | The Boy & Allison Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Ben Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Diego Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Vanya Hargreeves
Series: Nightmare After Nightmare [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1911256
Comments: 199
Kudos: 606





	1. Back to Where it All Began

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ding dong the bastards dead!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Drug use

Klaus sighed happily as he clocked out, he had just finished a double shift and was relieved to get out. He walked past the two college students who were working on closing up the store and said,

"Hey you, stay strong! I Believe in you!" Klaus gave the student a pat on the shoulder and pointed at the other, "You not so much." The two laughed. Even though they were new, both were already used to his humor and antics.

Klaus stepped out, lit a cigarette and started to walk back to the gym. Al had been nice enough to let him stay with Diego full time, as long as he helped out a little, didn't smoke inside and didn't bring in any drugs. Klaus readily agreed, happy to have a roof over his head. He never did think of it as home though. In the short month of staying with her, Vanya's apartment became the closest thing to a home he ever had. The Academy never counted, it was more of a prison than anything else.

He let out a sigh as he walked alone, Diego was out doing his vigilante thing and Ben had gone to check on Vanya. They were all worried about her. Klaus had only seen Vanya in chance passing's, but hadn't actually talked with her. Anytime they ran into each other, she was bolting in the other direction. Klaus shook his head, he knew trying to get Vanya to accept their help would only push her farther away. He took another drag of the cigarette and kept walking, lost in thought. He wasn't paying attention to anything and didn't notice when Ben ran up to him.

"Klaus! Klaus!" Klaus jerked back to avoid running into his brother, ready to scold Ben about scaring him, "Dad's dead!" 

"What?" That was not what Klaus was expecting. Ben gestured for him to follow and ran across the street as rain began to pour down. Klaus dropped his cigarette and took off after him, stopping outside a storefront crowded with TVs. He paused a moment when he caught sight of his sister standing there, seemingly oblivious to the rain pouring down around her. Klaus approached her cautiously, hoping not to spook her. Klaus stood next to Vanya and looked to the news on the TV, his father's face stared back with the headline reading his death earlier that week. He shuddered before turning to his sister, she was closing her prescription bottle when she noticed Klaus was next to her.

"He's dead." Klaus said, loud enough to be heard over the rain. Vanya nodded and began to walk past him, it took Klaus less than a second to decide to go with her. He walked quickly to catch up and kept pace beside her. Klaus made a note to call Diego when he got to Vanya's apartment. The three walked quickly, Ben on the left, Klaus on the right and Vanya between them. 

They were soaked to the bone once they arrived at the apartment. Klaus watched as Vanya rummaged through the hall closet, pulling out towels for him to dry off with. Klaus took off his coat and ruffled his hair with the towel, trying to dry it off as quickly as possible. Vanya reached for his coat taking it into the bathroom, hanging it on the shower head to dry. He continued to dry off the best he could as Vanya fumbled around the kitchen, trying to make tea. Klaus noticed she was still in her wet clothes and there was a slight tremor in her hands. He approached her, making sure Vanya was aware of him entering the kitchen. She stopped what she was doing and looked up at Klaus.

"I can finish up in here, you get into something dry. Hate for you to catch cold on this momentous occasion!" He gave a smile at Vanya's confused expression,

"Momentous occasion?" 

"We've, outlived the bastard! That's cause for celebration!" Ben rolled his eyes, but Klaus paid no notice when he saw Vanya's twitch into a small smile as she turned towards her room. He shot a smirk at Ben and began to rummage through the cabinets for three mugs. It was a moment later he realized that most were back in the sink and Vanya's coffee supply seemed to be depleted, Klaus let out a sigh and began to wash three of the mugs. The water began to boil when he was halfway through drying the second mug, causing him to jerk over to the stove and move the kettle. Vanya had emerged from her room in sweatpants, t-shirt and jacket. Klaus thought the jacket looked familiar, but the t-shirt he definitely recognized.

It was on of those graphic tee's with a cartoon picture and an accompanying pun. This one had been picked out when Diego and Vanya took him to a thrift shop to get more clothes so he wouldn't be wearing the same pants and shirt everyday. It had a cartoon cello on the front with the words 'Cello There!', Klaus had picked it out as a joke, saying it reminded him of Vanya. While his brothers were annoyed, Vanya just laughed and smiled at him. (That may or might've been the deciding factor for him to actually add it to the pile.) Klaus had left the shirt at her apartment, unable to find it during many of his and Diego's moments of breaking-and-entering Vanya's apartment to make sure she had enough food in her fridge.

"Nice shirt." Vanya looked down and her face turned red.

"Oh, uh, sorry. I-you can have it back if-" "No no! It's fine, I just wondered were it had gotten to." He said with a smile, "You can keep it, it's fine." Vanya wasn't looking at him and just poured the hot water into the mugs, pausing at the third before filling it.

"Is, is Diego coming?" Klaus shook his head,

"No, that's for Ben." He explained, "Though can I use your phone? I should probably call him so he doesn't think I'm running around in back alleys or something." Vanya gave a nod, setting the mugs onto the table and dropping the tea bags in. Ben sat next to her, concern was etched into his gaze. Klaus shared a glance with him before going over to the phone and dialing the gym's number.

It rang, and rang, and rang.

No answer. Diego must not be back yet.

Klaus let out a sigh and walked back to the table, his converse squishing with rain water. He kicked off his shoes once he sat down and wrapped his hands around the steaming cup, letting the heat soak into him. Vanya's had her head down and was absentmindedly fiddling with the zipper of her jacket with her other hand resting lightly on the table. Ben had his hands next to his mug, as if he could feel the heat radiating off of it. Klaus reached forward placing his hand next to Vanya's, making sure not to touch it. She looked at his hand, but didn't move away. To Klaus, it wasn't an immediate fix, but it was a small victory.

Klaus was halfway done with his tea when there was a knock on the door. He noticed Vanya stiffened slightly before she got up to answer it while Klaus stood a little ways away. His sister opened the door to reveal a disheveled and soaked Diego standing on the other side. Vanya let out a sigh, walking to the closet in order to get more towels as Klaus grabbed and filled another cup of tea while Diego stepped inside, closing the door. He unlaced his boots, setting them next to Klaus' converse and accepted the towel Vanya handed him. Once Diego had toweled off, he approached the table and was about to sit down when Klaus cleared his throat.

"Forgetting something Diego?" He asked,

"What?"

"No knives at the table!" Klaus said,

"Also Ben's sitting there." Quietly added Vanya. Diego sighed and stepped back, undoing the straps on his harness. He placed it on the counter next to the used towel and sat across from Ben with a sigh.

"So he's dead." Diego stated, "Took that bastard long enough." Klaus hummed in agreement.

"He hasn't shown up, has he?" Vanya asked, looking at Klaus who shook his head.

"If he was you'd know." He said, "I'd make him corporeal so we could watch Ben beat the shit out of him."

"I, actually would not object to that." Said Ben and Klaus flashed him a smile.

"My money's on Ben." Added Diego,

"Not here though, my landlord's already mad at me for all the stuff I broke." Vanya murmured quietly, "I'd rather not get evicted because dad got his ass kicked in my apartment." Klaus shook his head,

"I'm thinking his office, break all the expensive shit in there and watch him panic." Diego's mouth twitched and Vanya let out a small laugh. The four sat in silence sipping the tea. Vanya actually fell asleep at the table and Klaus wasn't far behind her, Diego quietly stood up and shook Vanya's shoulder. She woke up with a start, eyes darting around the room before she looked at him.

"You should get some sleep." Vanya surprisingly didn't argue and just nodded, reaching for the mugs. "Hey, no, I got it." Diego said, pulling all of them out of Vanya's reach. She looked about to argue, but thought better of it and trudged off to the bedroom, closing the door behind her with a quiet click. Leaving the brothers alone in the kitchen. 

(None of them knew that her medication was in the room with her. Vanya shakily unscrewed the lid as quietly as possible and poured three pills into her hand, swallowing them all at once. She was up to six pills in just the past hour and a half, the numbness was starting to take a greater hold on her. She set the bottle down, and curled up on top of the sheets. Not caring if she would actually get any sleep or just dissociate for a few hours.)

The brothers sat quietly in the kitchen for a few minutes before Diego asked,

"You staying?" Klaus nodded, "Good. Because we need to plan."

"Plan what?" 

"Pogo and Luther will want a funeral for dad, right?" he nodded, "Which means going back to The Academy. Where dad's office will be empty and unlocked. With all of his notes." Klaus looked at him, then at Ben.

"And?"

"He want's to find what dad wrote about Vanya's powers." Ben explained.

"Oh. But won't Pogo notice if something is missing?" Klaus asked.

"We'll deal with that later," Dismissed Diego, "We need to find a way for Vanya to control her powers, without the pills." Klaus and Ben nodded in agreement.

They spoke for about an hour until Klaus could barely keep his eyes open and Diego dragged him to the couch in order for him to sleep. It didn't escape his notice that it was still made up as a make shift bed, showing that Vanya had been sleeping out here instead of in her room. Diego let out a sigh, turning on the lamp by the couch while Klaus drifted off and sat next to the window. He must have fallen asleep because when he opened his eyes, the sky was a healthy yellow glow. Diego rubbed his eyes and looked over at Klaus. He was sprawled out, half hanging off the couch and drooling into the pillow. Diego stood up with a sigh, heading down the hall to check on Vanya.

He knocked at the bedroom door.

Nothing.

He knocked again.

No response.

Diego cautiously opened the door and saw...

An empty room.

Shit.

He looked around the apartment, and saw a piece of paper attached to her violin case. Diego peeled off the paper, looking over it.

_I'm fine, don't wait for me._

_-7_

Diego just stared at the note in dismay. He thought last night had some break through with Vanya. She didn't flinch or jerk away from them. Hell, she'd even spoken to them. Was there something he missed? The paper crinkled in distress as he balled his fist at his side. Every time, they think they've had some form of progress, Vanya pulls away. It was frustrating, she needed help. No matter what she said, Diego could tell this was eating her alive.

* * *

Allison was standing on the landing of The Academy in silence. It had been a few days since she had the news of her father's death unceremoniously dumped in her lap, and they had been a whirlwind. The first thing Allison did once she got home was call Pogo. Once she got the day of the funeral, Allison immediately called her therapist and left a message. She explained the situation and asked if there was a possibility for her to move the appointment to an earlier date. She didn't hear back until the next morning and was told the only opening they had was a week after the original date, nothing earlier. Allison wasn't happy, but it was the only option. She confirmed the appointment, and booked a flight.

So in-between packing, arguing with her agent, playing phone tag with her brothers and filling Vanya's machine with messages, Allison was stressed. Now she was back in her childhood home with worry eating at her gut. 

She began descending the stairs, her footsteps echoing across the empty hall. Allison paused, glancing at the portrait of Five that was hung above the fireplace. She stood their for a few seconds before entering and began walking the perimeter of the room, pausing when something caught her eye on the bookshelf. Allison reached up and grabbed Vanya's book from it's spot. She doesn't know why, but she flipped it open to the blank dedication page. Except, it wasn't blank. Instead there was a handwritten note which said,

_Dad,_

_I Figured, why not?_

_-_ _V_

Allison furrowed her brow, she didn't expect Vanya to have written a note to their dad. Much less send him a copy of the book. Before she could dwell any further on it, someone spoke behind her,

"Welcome home, Ms. Allison." She turned, coming face to face with Pogo.

"Hi Pogo," Allison said with a small smile. He walked forward and caught sight of what was in her hand.

"Ah, your sister's autobiography." Pogo seemed, hesitant to bring it up. As if unsure of how she would react.

"Yep," She sighed, "I may not have liked what she said about me, but she is a damn good writer." Allison said as she placed it back in it's place. Pogo nodded before saying,

"That she is. Are you aware if Ms. Vanya will be present today?" Allison shook her head and Pogo sighed. "I assumed that would be the case." They stood in silence for a while, Allison stared at Five's portrait and Pogo noticed.

"Master Five, it's been sixteen years, four months and fourteen days since he disappeared."

"Didn't, Vanya use to leave sandwich's out for him?" Allison Asked,

"That she did, I stepped in half of those peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich's." He said, "Your father still believed Number Five was out there." She nodded and looked down, remembering the days after he left shouting rumor after rumor. Hoping one would bring him back.

"Pogo," He turned to look at her, "Are, are any of the others here?" She questioned. 

"Master Luther arrived a few hours ago, and I believe I saw Master Diego and Master Klaus lurking around upstairs. Up to no good I assume." He said with a small smile. Allison returned it before excusing herself to look for her brothers.

Her search took her to multiple empty rooms, eventually she found herself outside her father's office. Allison opened the door and half expected to be scolded for interrupting important work before reminding herself dad was in an urn downstairs. She stood in the doorway for a few seconds before she heard two voices muttering to each other and objects being shuffled around. Allison approached the desk and saw familiar lace-leather pants sticking out and asked,

"Klaus?" His head shot up, "What are you doing in here?" Klaus turned wide-eyed with a broad smile on his face,

"Allison! Hi!" He immediately scrambled up in order to hug her.

"Hi Klaus."

"What? No hi for me?" She looked down and saw Diego crawling out from under the desk.

"Um..." Allison looked him up and down, "What the hell are you wearing?" Diego rolled his eyes as Klaus answered,

"It's a harness. Brother dearest is dipping his toes into the world of BDSM!" He said with a laugh and Diego sputtered.

"It- For the last time, it is not a kink harness! It's a tactical harness!" Allison joined in with Klaus' laughter.

"Though in all seriousness," She said between laughs, "What are you guys doing in here?" Diego sighed,

"We were hoping to see if dad had anything about Vanya. Her powers, the pills." The mood in the room immediately turned somber. Klaus sat in the chair, propping his feet atop the desk. The three (four?) stood in silence for a short moment before Klaus knocked off one of dad's paperweights with his foot, watching it fall to the floor with disinterest as Diego sat on the edge of the desk.

"She's still...?" "Yeah, she is." Diego said, "Not letting up any time soon." Her shoulders slumped forward with a sigh.

"Dad was such an asshole. Vanya didn't deserve any of the shit dad did to her. I mean, non of us did. Thank christ he isn't our real father so we couldn't inherit those cold dead eyes!" Klaus pried his eyes open with a yell, swinging his head between the two of them.

"Number Two! Number Three!-" "Get out of his chair!" 

They turned around and came face to face with Luther. A very, very, large Luther. Diego slid off the desk as Klaus stood up, moving to stand next to Allison.

"Woah, You got big Luther." Diego said,

"Really filled out over the years." Added Klaus,

"What's the secret? Protein shakes? Low carbs?" Allison shook her head at Diego, she could tell he was trying to egg him on.

"What are you doing in here?" Luther asked.

"We wanted to prove to ourselves he was really gone." Klaus said, he was walking around the back of the desk, avoiding Luther. Allison was sure she could see something outlined in the back of his coat. Klaus didn't get very far because Luther immediately moved over, stopping him with a hand to his chest.

"Drop it." He commanded,

"Ex-squeese me?" Klaus asked feigning innocence.

"Now!" Diego sighed,

"Klaus didn't take anything Luther. I've been with him the entire time." He explained, but Luther just shook his head.

"Of course you would say that-" "What the hell does that mean?" Allison took this as her cue to step in.

"Luther, stop." He looked at her incuriously,

"Allison, you know Klaus'll most likely sell anything he can get his hands on for drugs! You both know that!" Luther punctuated the sentence by pushing Klaus back, causing him to stumble back into the desk. It prompted Diego to draw a knife and point it threateningly at Luther as Allison went over to Klaus, making sure he was okay. In all the chaos, no one noticed the small figure approaching the room.

"What's going on?" They all turned and saw Vanya standing in the doorway, leaning heavily on her crutch. Allison, Diego and Klaus were surprised to see her, they honestly didn't know if she would come. Luther just looked confused, as if he had forgotten they had another sister.

"You're still hurt?" Vanya looked taken aback at the question and Diego looked angry.

"The hell kind of question is that Luther?" 

"What? No I-" He floundered, "The accident was over eight more months ago. Shouldn't she be fully recovered?" Klaus and Allison looked at him shocked as Vanya just shrunk in on herself, mumbling about finding Mom before exiting the room. Diego glared at Luther, Allison was afraid he would stab him, instead, Diego whirled out of the room in an angry huff after Vanya with Klaus hot on his heels. Luther turned to Allison with confusion written across his face. She just shook her head and strode out of the office following her brothers. 


	2. Uneasy Feelings and Accusations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vanya contemplates why she came.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Drug use, possible stalking and mild sickness

Vanya limped down the hall, she could hear footsteps following after her, but didn't pause for them, only stopping once she reached the stairs. Her leg had been bothering her for the past few days, causing her limp to be more prominent and for the crutch to be in use more often. Getting out of her apartment building was a chore. Vanya had barely made it up the Academy stairs in her search for her siblings, how the hell was she supposed to get down? Vanya stood there long enough for the others to catch up with her.

"Vanya?" She turned and looked at the others, "What's wrong?" Her sister asked. Vanya just shrugged before attempting to walk down the stairs and her siblings followed after her. It was slow going. She had to stop multiple times to catch her breath and give her leg a small break, Allison walked next to her matching the slow pace and paused when she did. Her brothers walked ahead of them, whispering quietly to each other. 

Once they reached the bottom of the steps, there were heavy thudding footsteps quickly approaching behind them, signifying that Luther had followed them out of the office. Vanya tensed, knowing Luther would want details, details she was not wanting or willing to give. He was right, it did happen eight months ago but that made the incident no easier to think about. Allison must've noticed her reaction to the approaching footsteps because she motioned for them to head into the foyer and stayed behind, waiting for him to appear. 

Vanya sat on one of the couch's, extending her leg out in order to stretch out the soreness that had developed. Diego was standing near the entrance, keeping guard in case Luther bypassed their sister. Allison seemed to have been successful in stopping Luther if the hushed voices were anything to go by. Once he confirmed Luther wasn't going to come stomping into the room, Diego walked over to stand next to Klaus. Klaus was shuffling around with his hands behind his back.

"What are you doing?" Vanya asked.

"Don't tell me you actually-" "I did!" Exclaimed Klaus as he pulled a ornate gold and black box from the waistband of his pants. 

"Oh my god really Klaus?" 

"What? I had to sneak it past the big guy somehow!" Vanya watched the back and forth between her brothers, shaking her head. It didn't surprise her that Klaus would take the opportunity to swipe something from dad's office, but what did surprise her was when Diego swiped the box and immediately opened it dumping the contents onto the table in-between the couches. They both scrounged through the papers that had tumbled out and Vanya rested her head in her hands. She had been having an on and off again head ache for the past few days and had been feeling slightly nauseas. Vanya couldn't exactly be sure when she noticed these symptoms, but had a feeling it was because she walked around in the cold for about five hours the day after finding out dad had died. 

Her brother's had been asleep in the other room when she had slipped out, swallowing two pills as she opened the door. Vanya spent half the day walking aimlessly through the city, numb to the sprinkling rain that was still coming down and only returned home when only three pills were left in the bottle. It was in the late afternoon when she had gotten back to the apartment and laid down on the couch, ignoring the heart beat timed throbs running up her leg. Vanya pulled herself up to listen to her answering machine a few (hours?) minutes later and found Pogo's message about the funeral. She debated (decided) on whether or not to go when she noticed it. The prickling feeling of someone watching her.

She had first noticed it when she visited to store to pick up more coffee. Vanya had shrugged it off as paranoia, assuming her brother's were parked down the street keeping an eye on her, but realized that wasn't the case. A quick glance up and down the street showed Diego's car was no where in sight. That made her more convinced of her paranoid idea, but discarded that theory once it stayed with her through out her walk of the store. Vanya couldn't get a glimpse of who was following her, so she had no idea who it was. ~~(She wasn't fully convinced it wasn't all in her head.)~~

The next day had her in the same predicament. She visited the pharmacy to get a refill of her medication (Even though she didn't need it, there was a half-empty bottle at her apartment) when she had the same hair-raising feeling. Vanya decided to not go back to her apartment right away, instead taking a detour into the coffee shop Klaus was working at. The barista at the counter recognized her from a few months ago when Diego got arrested, and told her Klaus had taken the next few days off and wouldn't be back till the end of the week. Vanya may be trying to distance herself ~~(She didn't want that, she missed her siblings)~~ but if Klaus had been there, that probably would've given her some small semblance of relief. She had sat at a table in the corner, trying to pinpoint who was watching her. She sat there for about two hours before heading to the metro station. Vanya got onto the first train that pulled up and jumped off a second before the doors shut and watched the train pull out. Vanya spent the next few days huddled in her apartment with the blinds down and curtains drawn. It was in her paranoid huddle that she had noticed her head was pounding and her stomach was churning. Vanya was debating going to see a doctor, but realized that it was the day of her father's funeral, and spent three hours deciding whether or not she should go before deciding not to.

Vanya had called a taxi five minutes later. Thinking that even though she was afraid, being with her siblings would be better than being alone. Which led to now.

Her brother's were quietly arguing, and the steady thrum in her head was getting faster. Vanya took a deep breath in and out, in and out, in an-

Why is she lying down?

She was lying on her side, something covering her. Was it a blanket? It didn't feel like a blanket. A look up showed the table had been cleared of whatever junk of dad's that had been dumped out of the box Klaus stole, and said brother was currently gone. Diego was sitting in one of the chairs by the fireplace, staring into it with something in his hand. Vanya tried to sit up (key word being tried) and immediately put her head back down, the headache was still there. 

"You okay?" Diego was looking at her with concern. Vanya nodded. "You sure?" She sighed and nodded again, pulling the blanket over her head. Diego walked over standing at the edge of the couch. "You haven't been sleeping, have you?"

"Not really." Her filter was off apparently, "Where's Klaus?"

"He went to go put the stuff back, but I have a feeling he got distracted." Diego said, he lifted her feet up and placed them in his lap as he sat down. Vanya didn't have the energy to move away. "We found something, dad's notebook. The one he wrote in during training." Vanya didn't respond, "It might have something about you in it." When she still didn't give an answer, Diego sighed and tugged the blanket down away from her face. (Vanya then realized it was his coat that was covering her.)

"Vanya, you look like shit. You're taking about eight pills a day, not eating and you basically live off of coffee. We're worried." Vanya squeezed her eyes shut,

"What do you want me to do Diego?" She asked, "The last time I reduced the pills I hurt you and Klaus. Even before that I hurt you." Before she could react, Diego had her up in a sitting position and had his arms wrapped loosely around her in a hug.

"We are not scared of you, Vanya. Klaus, Allison, Ben and I want to help you figure out the best way to deal with the powers. And any other shit dad did to you. But we can't do that if you won't let us." Vanya was silent, wasn't this the reason she came? She wanted help. Maybe not with her powers, but with wanting to feel safe. These past few days had put her more on edge, she was constantly second guessing herself about if some was watching her. Maybe she should tell Diego, but what if she was just being paranoid? Vanya let out a sigh and rested her head on his shoulder. Her head had begun to pound. 

Diego seemed to be waiting for her to say something. 

She didn't get the chance. 

Luther had just walked into the room, Allison behind him with a scowl on her face. Vanya saw her brother pause, his gaze locked on her. He started to approach and Vanya turned away hiding her face in Diego's shoulder again. Diego's grip tightened, causing her to panic slightly, but it was loosened when Luther's footsteps moved away from them. She felt a hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze before removing itself.

She looked up, Allison was standing slightly in front of her as if trying to block her from Luther's gaze. Vanya pulled away from Diego when she saw a red notebook sitting on the table. A quick look at Luther showed him looking at the wall uncomfortably, so she reached forward and grabbed the journal. Luther turned his gaze back at her after she had shoved it into the pocket of Diego's coat. He was about to say something when Klaus came strutting into the room. 

Diego was right, he'd gotten distracted. 

"Is that my skirt?" Allison asked, he smiled and gave a little twirl. Vanya noticed he was also barefoot.

"Yeah I found it in your room. It's a little dated but it's very breathy on the," he gestured down, "bits." Diego bit back a laugh and Luther decided to take charge.

"We should get started." He said, trying to rein them in. Klaus gave a sigh before sitting next to Vanya and Allison moved to the chair beside Diego. Luther looked surprised that she had chosen to sit next to them and not him.

"So, I was thinking we have some sort of memorial service in the courtyard at sundown." He looked around, trying to discern their reactions, "Say a few words, just at Dad's favorite spot."

"Dad had a favorite spot?" Their sister asked

"You know, under the oak tree. We used to sit out there all the time. None of you ever did that?" Diego scoffed at that. 

"Will there be tea? Refreshments? Cucumber sandwich's are always a winner. Oh, I know a good place to get scones!" Klaus exclaimed and Luther shook his head,

"What? No!" He sighed, "Listen up! We have more important stuff to talk about!"

"Like what?" Questioned Diego.

"Like the way he died." What?

"I don't understand? I thought they said it was a heart attack?" Vanya asked

"Yeah, according to the coroner." Answered Luther,

"Well wouldn't they know?" She asked.

"Theoretically." Luther seemed to be getting annoyed that none of them were on the same page as him. "Look, all I'm saying is at the very least something happened. The last time I talked with Dad, he sounded strange. On edge, he told me I should be careful who to trust." Diego sighed and stood up.

"Luther, dad was just a bitter old, paranoid, man who was starting to lose what was left of his marbles." Vanya flinched back at that. Was that what was happening to her? Was she just being paranoid? Acting crazy? Klaus noticed her tense up and brushed his fingers across her hand. He squeezed it when she didn't respond to the touch.

"No. He must have known something was going to happen." He turned to Klaus, "Look, I know you don't like to do it, but I need to to talk to Dad." Allison scoffed, shaking her head as Klaus sat forward still gripping Vanya's hand.

"I can't just, call dad in the afterlife and be like, 'Dad, could you just stop playing tennis with Hitler for a moment and, take a quick call?" Luther was starting to look angry,

"Since when that's your thing?"

"Since it's his power and not yours." Vanya quietly interjected, shocking everyone. Klaus smiled at her and rested his head on her shoulder. 

"She has a point." Allison said and Diego nodded. Luther took a deep breath before continuing,

"You shouldn't have a say, Vanya, when it comes to powers." Diego was about to launch himself across the table and wail on Luther (his harness was in the chair beside the fireplace) but stopped himself when Vanya reached out, grabbing his wrist. He paused and looked at her before sitting down, glaring at Luther who didn't seemed phased.

"Then there's another issue. Dad's monocle is missing." Everyone looked at him confused. "Think about it, have you every seen Dad without that monocle?"

"The hell does that have anything to do with it?" Klaus asked.

"So, if Dad didn't have it when he died, then who ever killed him must have it." Diego scoffed at him,

"Even if dad was murdered, which he wasn't, who gives a shit about a stupid monocle?" 

"Exactly! It's worthless. So who ever took must have been someone close to him, someone with a grudge." His eyes swept over them, pausing to look at Diego a little longer than the others before looking straight ahead.

"Where are you going with this?" Klaus asked.

"Isn't it obvious Klaus," Said Diego as he stood up, "He thinks one of us killed dad." Luther sputtered for a moment before looking down.

"You do!"

"How could you think that?" The others started stand up and leave as Luther tried to regain control of the situation,

"I'm not finished-" "Sorry I'm just gonna go murder mom, I'll be right back." Klaus handed Vanya her crutch and walked beside her out of the room followed by Diego. 

"Allison." She shook her head and followed the others out, "That went well." He muttered.

* * *

Diego walked back into the now empty foyer, barely noticing that dad's urn was missing and collapsed on the couch, deep in thought. After the disaster of a meeting, Diego broke away from his siblings to find Mom. He hadn't had the chance to talk to her earlier. She was doing laundry, humming to herself without a care in the world. Diego was about to greet her, when something fell out of the apron she was folding. He stepped inside, picking up what she had dropped and felt his breath catch in his throat.

It was a monocle.

It was DAD'S monocle. 

Mom hadn't noticed Diego in the room, so he quietly backed out and walked away, pocketing the monocle as he went.

He lay on the couch, deep in thought. If Mom had it, did that mean Luther was right?

No, heart attack. That's what dad died from.

It was a natural cause, nothing else.

Diego twirled a knife between his fingers, his thoughts going round and round in circles. He almost missed the music start to play.

_Children behave, that's what they say when we're together_

_and watch how you play,_

_they don't understand_

_so we're running just as fast as we can, holding onto one another's hands_

_trying to get away into the night and then you put your arms around me_

_and we tumble to the ground and I here you say_

_I think we're alone now_

_there doesn't seem to be anyone around_

_I think we're alone now_

_The beating of our hearts is the only sound_

Diego smirked, throwing the knife and curving it so it stuck itself deep into the forehead of the taxidermy animal. He got up and closed the door, noticing that Vanya was dancing in the hall. He smirked bit decided not to say anything since she seemed to be enjoying herself. Diego went to his original position in front of the couch and began to dance. I had been a long time since he had done this. The last time being when he and Eudora were still dating. His ex-classmates were celebrating graduation from the police academy and he was invited to go along. Diego got lost in the music, then immediately stumbled.

Everything was shaking.

His first thought was Vanya, but discarded that idea when something outside caught his eye. It was a large blue, thing, swirling in the sky. He ran outside, somewhat aware of the others behind him.

"What is that?" Asked Vanya,

"Don't get to close!" Allison exclaimed. Luther took half a step back before saying,

"It looks like some sort of temporal anomaly. Or a miniature black hole, one of the two.

"That's a pretty big difference there Paul Bunyan!" "Out of the way!" Klaus pushed his way forward, chucking a fire extinguisher at the thing.

"What is that gonna do?" Allison asked.

"I don't know! Do you have any better ideas?" Diego reached forward, grabbing Klaus and shoving him next to Vanya, attempting to shield the two. Luther yelled something out, but Diego paid no attention, focusing only the figure pushing itself through the portal. It lasted for a few seconds before a small person fell onto the ground with a thud, it looked like, a boy? Diego checked behind him to make sure Vanya and Klaus were ok. Vanya gave him a small nod, but Klaus just said,

"Does anyone else see a little Number Five, or is that just me?" Diego whipped his head back to the kid who was getting up, wearing an oversized suit but it was without a doubt, their long lost brother.

"I see him too Klaus." Allison said, causing Klaus to visibly relax.

Shit, Klaus could see ghosts. Of course he would make sure he wasn't the only one who could see him. Diego stepped back next to Klaus and Vanya reached for his hand. They all watched their brother look around at himself before returning his gaze back at the others.

"Shit!" 


	3. Funeral

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five explains where he's been, sort of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: drug use, fever

The siblings had gathered in the kitchen, watching Five rummage around for food. Vanya had yet to let go of Klaus' hand and Allison had a hand on her shoulder. Ben stood off to the side so no one would accidentally walk through him.

"What's the date?" Five asked,

"The twenty-fourth." Vanya quietly answered, she seemed to be in shock.

"Of what?" No answer, Five looked at her sharply, "Of what?" Vanya looked away. Ben knew she was having trouble keeping time, and was even surprised she knew the date.

"March." Diego cut in, getting Five's attention away from Vanya. He cast a curious glance back at their sister before returning to his sandwich and simply saying,

"Good." And said nothing more. Luther got fed up,

"Are we going to talk about what happened?" Five didn't respond and moved to look for more food but was stopped by Luther blocking his path, "It's been seventeen years!" 

"It's been a lot longer than that!" He seethed before jumping behind Luther and opened a cabinet.

"I haven't missed that." Muttered Luther.

"Where'd you go?" Diego asked.

"The future," Replied Five, he jumped back to his spot at the head of the table continuing to make his sandwich, "It's shit by the way."

"Called it!" Exclaimed Klaus as Ben shook his head,

"No you didn't dipshit." Klaus stuck his tongue out at him gaining the attention of Luther,

"Why are you sticking your tongue out at Allison?"

"I'm not!" Whined Klaus as Ben snickered.

"Play nice boys," Allison said, shooting a look at where she thought he was (missed by a foot but not the point) and slung an arm around Klaus.

"Should've listened to the old man," Five said, gaining the attention of the others, "Jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of a dice. Nice dress." Klaus looked down, fiddling with the hem of Allison's skirt,

"Oh, well danke!" Five just shrugged finishing the sandwich, taking a bite. The room had descended into silence before Luther asked,

"How long were you gone?" Five gave another shrug before saying,

"Forty-five years. Give or take." That was a shock. Ben wasn't surprised that he was gone that long, but that didn't explain why he looked the same as when they were thirteen. Hopefully he would explain.

"You're fifty-eight?" Vanya quietly asked. Five shook his head,

"No. My consciousness is fifty-eight. My body is apparently now thirteen again." He said, "Delores kept saying the equations were off, bet she's laughing now." Delores? Who the hell is that? Ben shared a puzzled look with Klaus as Five picked up the newspaper at the end of the table.

"Guess I missed the funeral." Luther's immediately turned suspicious.

"How'd you know about that?" Really? Their brother just got back and is now being accused of murder?

"What part of the future do you not understand? Heart failure, huh?" How the hell was Five so nonchalant about the whole situation?

"Ye-" "No!" Luther shot a glare at Diego while Five let out a sigh,

"Nice to see nothings changed." He took another bite of his sandwich before heading out of the room.

"That's It? That's all you have to say?" Asked Allison.

"What else is there to say? Circle of life." And with that, he disappeared around the corner, leaving the bewildered siblings in his wake. 

"Well, that was interesting." Luther stated. That was an understatement.

Ben sighed, debating if he should go check on Five to make sure he was okay after the whole time travel debacle. His train of thought was broken when Vanya tried standing up from the table, key word being tried. She sat back down, grunted in pain, gripped her bad leg and unintentionally grabbed the attention of the others. 

"Vanya? You okay?" Klaus asked and she nodded,

"Yeah, I, I just left my crutch in the hall. I should be fine grabbing it." They paid no mind to what she said. Klaus took off to grab it, Allison helped her stand and Diego scooped her up, carrying their sister down the hall.

"Diego, I can stil-" "You're about to fall asleep on your feet." Ben didn't catch her reply as they moved farther down the hall, Allison shook her head with a small smile. Luther cleared his throat, causing her to turn and look at him,

"You never told me what kind of accident it was." Allison sighed, shaking her head.

"It wasn't an accident Luther, I told you that." 

"Right. You told me she was attacked." He said, "But why would someone want to attack her? She's ordinary. No one knew of her connection to the Umbrella Academy until five years ago with her book, even the-" "What happened to her had nothing to do with The Academy!" Luther looked shocked at her outburst,

Allison sat across from him, squeezing her eyes shut and let out a deep breath. Ben sat next to her, offering moral support. She opened her eyes and fixed their brother with an angry look that caused him to shrink back.

"What happened to Vanya, could happen to any one. It could've happened to me." She leaned forward, "It had nothing to do with The Academy." With that, she got up heading for the hall.

"I don't understand." Whispered Luther, she turned back and said,

"Maybe, if you hadn't thought dad's mission was more important than our sister's wellbeing you would." Allison stalked out of the room with Ben on her heels, looking for the others.

They both approached the foyer once they caught sight of Klaus sitting on the couch. He looked over at them and placed a finger to his lips and pointed down. Vanya was stretched out across the couch with Diego's coat covering her and her head in Klaus' lap, asleep. Diego was by the fireplace putting his harness back on, occasionally glancing at the two, Allison smiled and moved back to her spot from earlier, ruffling Klaus' hair as she passed and Ben planted himself on the table. The five of them sat in a comfortable silence when their youngest/oldest brother walked into the room. Even though Five couldn't see him, Ben smiled. He was happy to see their long lost brother. Five was wearing one of the old uniforms, gazing up at the portrait above the fireplace with a blank look on his face.

"Nice to know dad didn't forget me." 

"None of us did," Allison said. Five's mouth twitched as he walked farther into the room, his gaze resting on Vanya who was still asleep.

"I read her book, found it in a library that was still standing. I thought it was good, all things considered" He cast a quick glance at them before moving over to sit on the other couch, "Pretty ballsy, giving up all the family secrets. Sure that went over well." Diego fixed him with a glare, they may have gotten closer with Vanya, but the book was still a sore subject.

"You're point?" He asked 

"My point is," Five started, "What happened?" They looked at him confused. When they didn't give a response he let out an angry huff before jumping away.

Then immediately jumped back into the room, brandishing Vanya's crutch in his hand.

"These are for long term use. She wasn't using it when I pushed through the portal, but she was favoring her right leg and leaning on Klaus. When we walked into the kitchen, Klaus was helping her walk while you and Allison were hovering over her. As if a breeze would knock her to the ground. So Diego," Five walked forward, "I will ask in a way that even a simpleton such as yourself will understand. What happened that was so bad the three of you overlooked the tell-all book our sister wrote in order to hover over her as if you guys were Pogo making sure Klaus doesn't cheat on a quiz." Five seethed.

They all looked at each other, none of them knew how much Vanya would want Five to know. He seemed to grow more and more impatient, and seemed to almost yell right then and there, when Luther lumbered into the room. He looked around at them before saying they would go ahead with the funeral in ten minutes. Luther waited, as if hoping for someone to say something, but deflated when no one did and walked out of the room. When he disappeared around the corner, Five turned back to them still wanting an answer about what happened. He seemed to realize that he wouldn't get one, so Five huffed, set the crutch down and jumped away. Allison just shook her head and Diego ran a hand down his face. They were all quiet, the only noises coming from the rain outside and the occasional ghost that wandered through the room.

Vanya was still resting and they were hoping to let her sleep as long as possible, but had to wake her up when Mom, Pogo, Five and Luther came back in with dad's ashes and their brother asked (demanded) that they begin the funeral now, leaving no room for argument. Klaus let out a sigh, gently shook Vanya's shoulder and she awoke with a jerk. Her eyes bounced around the room before pinpointing the locations of her siblings and calmed slightly. The siblings got ready, then walked outside.

Diego and Klaus had Vanya between the two of them. Even though Vanya was using the crutch she was leaning heavily on Diego as he held an umbrella over them. Klaus and Allison stood side by side and Ben was next to Allison with his hood up. (Klaus made sure Allison knew so she wouldn't accidentally walk through him.) Five was next to Diego with Mom and Pogo across from him and Luther standing in front of them with the urn.

"Did something happen?" Their Mom asked, causing everyone to look at her confused.

"Dad died, remember?" Allison gently reminded as Mom's smile faltered,

"Oh, of course." Her face immediately shifted into one of mourning. Allison shot a confused look at Diego,

"Is Mom okay?" Diego nodded before answering,

"Yeah, yeah, she's fine. She just needs to rest, you know, recharge." They accepted that answer before turning back towards Luther.

"Whenever you're ready, dear boy." Pogo said. Luther nodded, opened the urn and shook out their father's ashes.

Only to have them fall into a pile onto the ground right in front of them. They all looked at it with slight disgust. (Though Klaus let out a small laugh before Allison elbowed him in the ribs.)

"Probably would've been better with some wind." Mumbled Luther as he looked embarrassed. There was a beat of silence.

"Does, anyone wish to speak?" Pogo asked, no one replied, "Very well. In all regards, Sir Reginald Hargreeves made me what I am today, and for that alone I shall be forever in his debt." Ben rolled his eyes, this was nothing new, they'd all heard this speech "He was my master, he was my friend and I shall miss him very much. He leaves behind a complicated legacy-" "He was a monster." Interrupted Diego,

"He was a bad person and a worse father. The world's better off without him." Ben nodded to what was being said, "He didn't even bother to name us. You wanna pay your respects, at least be honest about what kind of man he was!" Diego was staring intently at the ashes as if expecting the pile to combust into flames. No one seemed bothered by what he said, but Luther stepped forward menacingly.

"You should stop talking. Now!" That only seemed to make Diego angry,

"You of all people should be on my side, Number One!"

"I am warning you-" "But then again, your head is so far up dad's ass, you sat on another goddamn planet for four years! Just because he said to-" "Stop talking!" "That is how much he couldn't stand the sight of you!" 

With an angry yell Luther lashed out. Diego pushed Vanya a to the side so she wasn't in the crossfire and Allison immediately latched onto her so she doesn't fall over. The brothers continue to brawl, ignoring the protests of everyone around them. Five muttered something under his breath before stomping back inside with Pogo behind him.

Ben was the first to notice it. Vanya was swaying, more so than usual. He was about to get Klaus' attention when she slumped forward with her eyes rolling back. Allison dropped her umbrella, trying to steady her and Klaus was by their side in a second. They both laid Vanya on her back and Klaus held his umbrella over her (where the hell had that pink plastic monstrosity come from any way?) in order to keep the rain out of her face. Diego and Luther were still going at it, oblivious to the situation while Mom stood their smiling. Ben was getting fed up. Vanya was lying on the ground and the fight was still happening. He shot an angry look at Klaus and jerked his head towards their brothers. Klaus understood what he wanted because the next second, a very corporeal, very angry Ben was charging forwards. 

He rammed himself into Luther's side, causing him to stumble from surprise. He looked up and stopped, clearly not expecting to see an angry pissed off dead brother, and his mouth hung open like a fish in a pet store.

"Are you both done?" Ben spat out, looking between them. Diego had the decency to look a little ashamed at least.

"Ben, what? How?" He just shot a withering look at Luther, stopping him midsentence and turned back towards his siblings.

He walked forward, Vanya was starting to come to a little but seemed to still be out of it. Ben reached out and picked up their sister bringing her inside. He placed her down on the couch and Allison knelt down next to her head, positioning her hand onto their sister's forehead, frowning immediately. She shot up, zipping out of the room as Diego led Mom inside and Luther lumbered in after them. He seemed to still be shocked.

"Ben?"

"Not now Luther." His focus still on Vanya. Luther took a breath and squared his shoulders, getting into his 'I'm Number One' stance.

"Shouldn't we-" "No" Ben glared at him, before he could reply Allison came back in with a thermometer in her hand. She motioned for Ben to sit Vanya up.

Vanya was more lucid and went through the motions, allowing him to pull her up. Though she protested when Allison tried to give her the thermometer.

"It's just a headache." But Allison shook her head and managed to get the thermometer in her mouth. Klaus moved to sit on Vanya's other side, allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder and Ben wrapped his arm around her. Luther started to look constipated from his unanswered questions and probably would start spewing them in a moment. Ben turned to Klaus,

"This isn't draining you, is it?" Klaus shook his head as the thermometer beeped. Allison took it out and tsked,

"99.9, low fever." She looked up at Diego, "You should get her home." He nodded and went to help Vanya up. As they started getting ready to leave, Luther burst.

"Is no one going to say anything?" They looked at him, "When did Klaus summon Ben? When did he get sober?"

"Eight months ago. Feels more like eight years." Klaus said and Luther took a step forward,

"Then you need to summon Dad!"

"His power, his choice." Murmured Vanya, her voice slightly muffled by Diego's shoulder. Luther stepped forward again, but was blocked by Allison. She turned towards them and said,

"You guys get home, let me know when something happens?" The brother's nodded and shuffled into the hall.

They were walking through the kitchen with Vanya stumbling over her own feet. Diego stopped, giving the crutch and his keys to Klaus before scooping Vanya up. Ben opened the alleyway door and held it as they walked through. He was about to step through when a quiet voice stopped him.

"Ben?" He turned and saw Five standing in the entryway of the kitchen, his face frozen in shock. Ben shot him a small smile before stepping outside and heading to the car. Diego had Vanya situated in the front seat and Klaus was sitting in the back, he clapped Diego on the shoulder before sliding in next to Klaus. Ben leaned forward, squeezing Vanya's shoulder before Klaus let go, and he faded from view. 


	4. Donuts and Shocking News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five pays a visit to his sister and brothers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Drug use, fever

It was quiet. 

A complete fucking opposite of what the day had been, Diego sighed as he pulled into the Griddy's parking lot, he'd promised Klaus donuts earlier. He dropped Vanya, Klaus and Ben at the apartment before heading out for the essentials: Advil, Tylenol, cold compress, five different cans of chicken noodle soup, a thermometer and basic groceries. And half a dozen Griddy's donuts. Fuck Klaus and his insatiable sweet tooth. Diego let out a sigh before entering, gaining the attention of Agnes.

"Diego!"

"Hey Agnes." 

"I was starting to get worried." He looked at her confused, "You and Klaus are in here at the end of every week. When you didn't show up at the regular time I was concerned." They shared a smile as Diego perched atop one of the stools.

"Sorry for worrying you, it's been along day." Diego sighed as Agnes nodded in understanding.

"We all have those days. But we at least have donuts to make it better."

"You, are right about that." She flashed him a smile,

"So, what can I getcha?" Diego ordered a full dozen (he may want some later, sue him), three glazed, three chocolate, three jelly filled and three sugar coated. Agnes grabbed an empty box with a smile and began to fill it. 

"Here you go! Is there anything else for tonight?" He shook his head and paid. 

Diego was exiting as a familiar car pulled up, with his smallest brother behind the wheel. Five got out and froze as he made eye contact before walking forward. They stood silently in front of each other for about a minute.

"Diego,"

"Five. What are you doing here?" His brother sighed,

"I need a decent cup of coffee."

"Okay? Why here?" Asked Diego,

"The old man didn't have a stash." Five stated, "Also Luther was arguing with Allison about Klaus summoning dad, he seems pretty determined that it should happen. He was also pressing her about what happened to Vanya, why she thinks it was so bad even though dad didn't give him any details." He looked up at Diego with a raised brow, a silent question in the air. Diego sighed as he moved towards his car, setting the box inside before turning back to his brother.

"I get you want to know what happened-" "So tell me!" "Five I can't just-" He stopped, taking a breath before continuing. "What happened to her, was bad Five. Really bad. She was in the hospital for about a week and in a wheelchair for a month. She had a cast on her arm, her leg, she had broken fingers and, and that was just a scratch on the fucking surface." Diego paused, running a hand down his face.

"Five, you want to know and I get that. But I won't tell you unless Vanya says its okay. What happened... She's still recovering from it, probably will still be recovering from it for a long time. What I can tell you, is that she isn't ready to talk about it. Klaus and I were with her for weeks before she did. If you want to know, you have to wait for her to be ready." He didn't stick around for Five's response, just got into his car and drove off. Diego just hoped Five got the message and wouldn't press Vanya about what happened. She would tell him when she's ready.

Diego pulled up outside the apartment, looking up at his sister's window. The light was on, peaking out from behind the curtain. He gathered all the bags and box of donuts in his arms and trudged up the stairs, making sure he didn't run into Mr. Puddles again. (He accidentally stepped on the cat once and Klaus still reminds him of it.) The sight of Klaus on the couch is what greeted him once he opened the door. His brother gave him a small smile before turning around, looking down. Diego walked to the other side of the couch and saw that Vanya was curled up under a blanket with her head resting in Klaus' lap. 

He walked over to the kitchen setting down the bags and rummaged through them, pulling out the thermometer. Klaus was twisting strands of Vanya's hair into a small braid, pausing to check her temperature with his hand. Vanya shifted slightly before looking up, her eyes were slightly glazed over which was concerning. Diego sat on the table, opening the thermometer box as Klaus shifted Vanya upright. She rested her head against Klaus and didn't protest taking the thermometer. As they waited, Diego placed his hand against her forehead, she was still warm. 

The thermometer beeped and Klaus held it, sighing in disappointment before handing it to Diego. The number 100 stared back at him. He let out a sigh and walked back into the kitchen, cleaning off the thermometer. He grabbed the cold compress, filling it with ice before walking back to his siblings. Vanya was laying back down, curled tightly in a ball with Klaus running his hand over her scalp. Diego placed the compress gently against her forehead and Klaus held it in place. She sighed slightly, closing her eyes.

Diego reached down and tapped her leg,

"Keep this straight, that'll stop it from getting stiff." She nodded slightly before stretching it out. Vanya seemed to be on the verge of sleep, which was good, from what Ben/Klaus had been telling him, she had opted to drink coffee and take the medication instead of sleep. He went back into the kitchen and began to put away his haul, realizing how glad he was to have also gotten groceries. Vanya's fridge had a few moldy apples, a carton of milk and a butter dish. That was it. Diego sighed putting away what he bought, throwing out the apples and grabbing the box of donuts to move it onto the counter.

"Those donuts?" He looked up at Klaus and nodded, "You are my favorite living brother." Diego smirked and shook his head before rummaging around the kitchen, double checking the expiration dates on any food his sister had. It seemed the only thing that wasn't past it's due date was the coffee and tea, and the sink was full of mugs again. He was about to start washing them when a flash of blue washed through the apartment, causing Diego to whip out a knife and throw it. He curved it at the last second once he realized that it was Five standing in the center of the living room. Klaus was staring in shock and Vanya was looking up blearily at the intrusion of their brother. 

Five looked at the three of them before strolling over to the knife stuck in the wall between the windows, easily pulling it free. He seemed to study the windows before walking to Diego, handing him the knife back. Vanya, still leaning on Klaus, had sat up as Five walked back and settled into a chair as if he owned the place. It was silent for a while and Diego had walked into the living room, leaning on the wall.

"You should have locks on your windows." Five stated and Vanya just looked confused,

"I live on the second floor."

"Rapists can climb." Vanya flinched back, shrinking further into Klaus hiding her face in his shoulder as if that would save her from Five's burning gaze. He opened his mouth to ask a question when Diego interrupted him.

"What do you want? And why is there blood on your shirt?" Five cast a glare towards Diego,

"It's nothing." Diego rolled his eyes before heading into the bathroom in order to grab the first aid kit. He could hear voices coming from the other room and hurried back, hoping to stop Five from prying and asking unwanted questions. 

His brother was leaning forward, looking at Vanya expectantly while Klaus had an arm around her as he attempted to hide her from Five's gaze. Diego stepped forward, sitting on the table and blocking Vanya from his view. Five glared at him, but stubbornly wrenched the kit out of his hands and rolled his sleeve up in order to bandage his arm. Diego looked down at his arm, noticing the cut. He looked back up at his brother and asked,

"What happened?" Five glared at him before jumping out of the room with the first aid kit, came back and began to pace. 

"You're gonna make us dizzy with all the back and forth old man." Five paused, glaring at Klaus before sitting back down.

"I saw Ben when you guys were leaving," He turned towards Klaus, "I didn't know you could bring ghosts to this plane of existence." Klaus shrugged,

"It's a new development. Still getting the hang of it all, being sober sucks." Vanya gently elbowed him as Diego glared, "Kidding! Kidding, don't worry. I'd hate to go through withdrawal again." Klaus shuddered, with his gaze bouncing around the room before settling back on their sister. Vanya's eyes were scrunched shut with her head resting on Klaus' shoulder.

"You all right Vanya?" She opened her eyes, looking at Diego before answering.

"Headache." Diego nodded before heading back to the kitchen to grab the advil he'd bought earlier. He poured out one pill and filled a glass of water before returning to his siblings. Five seemed to be contemplating something and came to some sort of conclusion as he began to speak.

"When I jumped forward and got stuck in the future, you know what I found?" He asked,

"No, what?" Klaus was looking like a little kid who was being told a fairytale before bed,

"Nothing, absolutely nothing. As far as I could tell I was the last person alive."

"What do you mean?" Five glanced at Diego before staring straight ahead, his voice sounding dead, emotionless.

"I mean I came across more corpses than I could count. No one but me was alive. I never found out what killed the human race but, I found something else. The day it happens." He paused, staring each of them in the eye before continuing.

"The world ends in eight days, and I have no idea how to stop it."

They stared at him in shock. That, that couldn't be right.

The world was going to...

What?

* * *

Five was currently sitting at the kitchen table with a steaming cup of coffee in hand. His siblings were staring at him with questions and disbelief in their eyes.

"You think I'm crazy." He said with a sigh.

"What? No! It's... Just that-" "You're crazy." Vanya glared at Klaus and Diego nodded. "Not how I would've said it but okay." Five shook his head before downing the coffee before going for a refill. His siblings were idiots.

"The world ends, whether you believe me or not. It. Ends." He turned back towards them, "I came back to stop it. With or without your help. Though, it seems it will be without." While taking a giant gulp of the coffee, Vanya stood up.

"Wait Five, no. Just tell us what happened." She begged,

"There's nothing to tell. Like I said, I never found out what caused the apocalypse." Five began to get frustrated, he would expect the incompetence to come from Diego or Klaus, but not Vanya. Though the more he thought about it, maybe he was judging her to harshly, she didn't seem to be in good shape. And he wasn't talking about her leg. Vanya's eyes were slightly glazed and her skin was flushed. She was also swaying unsteadily and Klaus reached out to steady her. Even though he wanted to get answers, Five knew he wouldn't get them now.

"This was a mistake, you're too young! Too young to understand!" Five slammed his mug down and began to trudge out the door.

"Wait no Five- Shit!" He turns around and sees Vanya being held up by Diego and clutching her leg. 

"Okay, Vanya you need to sleep." She began to protest but Diego cut her off, "Don't fight me on this, you've got a fever and you're most likely sleep deprived c'mon." He began to lead her out of the room before turning back to Klaus,

"Make sure he doesn't leave!"

"Sir, yes sir!" Diego rolled his eyes before herding Vanya away. Klaus turned to Five with a mischievous glint in his eye, "If you even think about leaving, I'll sick Ben on you!" He immediately turned and hissed at an empty corner. Five rolled his eyes before sitting back at the table, he would be lying if he said he wasn't worried about Vanya. But he had no fucking clue what the hell was going on. No one was telling him anything!

"She has a fever?" Klaus nodded,

"We noticed at the funeral, she collapsed while Diego and Luther wer-" "She what?" He jumped to hallway outside the door Diego and Vanya had entered. "Five- what?"

Five could hear Klaus scrambling around the kitchen but he paid no mind, listening in on the conversation in the other room.

"-you give me my medication?"

"Not until you tell me how many you've taken today." Five peeked through the crack, Vanya was sitting on the bed while Diego stood in front of her with something in his hand.

Vanya looked away, "Does it matter?" Diego sighed, this was obviously a conversation they'd had before, but why?

"We want to trust you with this Vanya, we really do. But the fact you take about a handful a day isn't good." He seemed to be waiting for a response, but didn't get one. Diego sat next to her, and Five got a clear view of what was in his hand. A pill bottle, Vanya's pill bottle. Why the hell did Diego have her pills?

"Somethings wrong."

"Thought we agreed I'm sleep deprived, traumatized and sick." Diego huffed out a laugh while shaking his head,

"Yeah, those are all problems. And we'll deal with them, but there's something else you're not telling us. Something other than why you're blocking your powers." 

What? Powers? Vanya has...

He didn't have time to finish the thought because a hand had yanked him back towards the kitchen. Five jumped away, glaring at his assailant who was holding his hands up in surrender. Klaus looked at him shocked, and with a hint of fear in his eyes.

"You can't tell Luther or Pogo!" Oh, Klaus wasn't scared of him. Five felt himself relax slightly before thinking over what was just said.

Klaus asked him not to tell Pogo or One, which meant Allison knew but was keeping it a secret from Luther. (Which that in and of itself was surprising.). But, if this was something they found out while the old man was still alive, and they were trying to keep it from him...

Five looked at Klaus and nodded before saying, "I'll be back in the morning." and was gone before Klaus could protest.

He reappeared in his old bedroom about fifteen minutes later, deep in thought.

Vanya had powers. 

That wasn't to surprising for him, he always thought she had some form of one. It never made sense why dad would've kept her if she didn't. But she did, and it seemed like the old man knew. Which meant he was the one who blocked them in the first place, but how?

The medication.

Diego said she was taking handfuls by the day. That must be how her powers are stopped, but she's doing it willingly. Vanya, who always wanted powers, always wanted to have something that made her like the rest of them, was purposefully hitting the off switch on her powers, but why? What had happened that was so bad she would try to shove them down? Does it have something to do with why she limps? Are the two connected somehow?

Five shoved his hands into his pockets and came in contact with something smooth. He pulled the eye out and sighed, remembering why he had broken his contract in the first place. He needed to stop the apocalypse. Five needed to save his family. He could focus on Vanya's powers once he knew she was safe. So with that in mind, he jumped out of the room and began to look for a map of the city, hoping to locate the location of Meritech.

He was almost able to block out the small nagging voice that told him he was making a mistake. 


	5. That Was Weird

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus causes a scene, Vanya's new student is kinda creepy and Luther investigates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Panic attack mentioned drug use.

Klaus woke up, groggily rubbing the tiredness from his eyes. He got up and stumbled into the kitchen. Diego was sitting at the table with dad's journal sitting open in front of him with a look of horror and disgust on his face.

"Good read?" Diego looked up and slid the book over with a sigh. Klaus sat down and began to read. 

What the actual FUCK!?!?

Vanya had apparently killed three different nannies over oatmeal, causing dad to build Mom. She had thrown Luther into a wall, caused Diego to fly out of a room and a bunch more incidents like that when they played together as children. Were any of these the deciding factors for stomping down their sister into nothing? No.

She broke his fucking monocle.

 _'... Number Seven caused the glass of my monocle to break, cutting my face. She showed no remorse for the incident unlike when having an outburst near the other children.'_

That was the deciding factor and what did father do?

Lock her away.

Just looking at the diagram the bastard had drawn of her cage in the notes was enough to make him sick. Klaus didn't even want to read the description of it, so he slammed the journal closed and knocked it off the table. Ben stared down at it with disgust and Klaus crossed his arms.

"He didn't right very much about the powers just the different ways he made sure they didn't resurface." Sighed Diego, "Nothing written in there will convince her to stop the pills." Klaus groaned and thumped his head against the table. Every time, every god damn time they think they've made some headway something screws it all to hell.

"That's not the worst of it." Diego said,

"'Not the worst of it.' What more could possibly happen?" Moaned Klaus, he had turned his head towards Diego, twisting his neck at an awkward angle to look at him.

"Vanya thinks someone was watching her." Klaus stared at his brother, "Though she immediately back tracked, saying it was probably just paranoia." He shook his head. Paranoia or not, this was something they would take seriously. The look Ben was currently giving the street outside told Klaus he would be scouting around whenever Vanya left her apartment.

Klaus had started in on the unopened box of doughnuts with a cup of tea while Diego went to check on Vanya. They both came out a minute later, Vanya was walking by herself stumbling slightly but managed to righten herself with no help. Her hair was tussled and her skin was still slightly flushed, but her eyes weren't glazed over which was good. Diego gave her the thermometer and grabbed the compress from the freezer as Ben hovered behind Vanya unseen. The thermometer beeped and Diego read it, looking slightly relived at the result and gave Vanya the compress which she promptly pressed against her forehead.

"You still have a fever, but it's back down to 99 degrees so that's good." Explained Diego, he had filled a glass with water and slid it across the table towards Vanya as Klaus motioned to the opened box of doughnuts.

"That may not be the best breakfast choice for her, cause you know, she's sick." Klaus flapped a hand at Ben in dismissal. There was no problem that couldn't be fixed with doughnuts. Unless she's nauseas, that wouldn't be pretty and Klaus did not want to be in charge of throw up duty.

"I'm not hungry Klaus, but thank you." Vanya murmured quietly causing Diego to turn, looking at her with a frown. Klaus made eye contact, but neither said anything as a flash of blue appeared in the apartment.

Five was standing in the living room, livid. He cast an angry glare at the siblings in the kitchen, causing Vanya to shrink back but their brother paid no notice. The old man just stomped in the kitchen and began to rummage through the cabinets until he came across Vanya's stash of coffee. Klaus looked curiously at their smallest brother before turning back to their sister. She had placed the compress on the table and had locked her gaze with the floor, flinching when Five slammed a mug onto the counter in anger. A glance at Diego showed he was just as confused at what was going on as Klaus. Their brother filled his cup and glared down into it's contents as if it killed his entire family, though hummed in approval at the taste. He sat at the end of the table across from Vanya, studying the way she had hunched down in her seat. Five had a look of contemplation on his face before he asked Vanya a question,

"So Vanya," He waited until she looked up, "What can you do?" Klaus immediately shot a look of panic at Diego, neither had told Vanya that Five overheard part of the conversation last night.

"What?" Their sister looked confused and slightly panicked.

"Your powers," She flinched back, "What are they?" Diego had an expression of rage on his face and Klaus had a feeling knives would be thrown if the situation was no diffused. Vanya, on the other hand was shaking like a leaf. Not good.

"You told him?" Klaus shook his head vehemently and began to explain,

"He snooped and overheard the conversation from last night."

"We were going to tell you-" "But now I told you before they could." Diego glared at Five, he never liked being interrupted. Vanya did not appear to be comforted at the information though.

Five was still staring at their sister with a blank face and questioning eyes. Vanya was avoiding his gaze, her eyes pinned on the floor and she was still trembling. Klaus could tell Five was getting impatient but was trying to hold in his demands, he always did hold back scathing remarks with Vanya. Ben on the other hand was not so patient.

"You need to get him out of here. He'll start asking more questions if you don't do something." Klaus knew he was right, but how to get the goblin out of the apartment?

An idea came to him. Not a very good one mind you. It would most likely have him joining Benny in the afterlife, but it was worth a shot. So, while making eye contact with Ben, Klaus reached out as if he intended to slide the box of doughnuts to Five, knocking it into the cup of coffee and watched as

it 

tumbled 

to 

the 

floor.

The mug landed with a crash, but thankfully didn't break. Klaus put on his best 'Oh God How Did This Happen?' face and began to apologize profusely. He promised Five a new cup and that he knew the perfect place to get it. Klaus hauled Five to his feet and began to shove him towards the door, making sure to keep a steady grip so if he thought to jump away, Klaus would go with him.

It wasn't until they were outside that Five had managed to wrench himself free. He turned, glaring at Klaus.

"What the hell was that?" Five seethed, Klaus shrugged

"I spilled your coffee so I'm getting you some more! Let's go!" He began to walk away, but Five jumped in front of him and jabbed a finger into his chest.

"I'm not talking about the damn coffee Klaus! I'm talking about the fact that Vanya, our supposedly powerless sister has powers and doesn't want to use them!" Klaus could see the anger building in Five's gaze and sighed looking around. 

"Look," He started, "You want to talk about that fine. Follow me and we'll talk." Klaus turned and moved away, smirking at the sound of his brother hurrying after him.

The two (Ben was no where in sight, probably back with Vanya and Diego. That's okay, he could find Klaus.) brothers walked down the street towards the small café tucked in a corner a few blocks away. Five kept pace with Klaus, giving him an angry side-eye the entire time. Though he turned confused once they entered the café and about five different employees called out in greeting to Klaus. Five settled at a table in the back while Klaus ordered the drinks and chatted with his friends, they were mainly confused as to why there was a small child that Klaus had never mentioned before, but he made up a story about his dad adopting another kid and how they didn't get the chance to meet him until the funeral. The others seemed to buy the story and gave him the drinks.   
Klaus meandered over towards his brother, setting down the (disgusting) large black coffee in front of him. Five took a tentative sip before nodding in approval, but looked disgusted at the Frappuccino Klaus was diving into with loud slurps. 

"You work here." Five stated. Klaus nodded before saying,

"Yep, took a few days off though when I heard dear old dad passed away." He shrugged and returned to his drink while Five studied him.

"You're sober, by the looks of things, you have been for a while." Klaus nodded, " Does your reason for getting sober have anything to do with what happened to Vanya?" He looked away, not knowing how to answer. Klaus knew that Vanya should be the one to tell him, unless she said someone else could. "You don't have to tell me what happened to her, I'm just curious if the two are related."

Klaus sighed and nodded, opting to not say anything. Five hummed in thought, taking another drink of coffee.

"And her powers?" He sighed again,

"Found out about them around the same time." Five was about to ask another question when Klaus cut him off, "Five, I know Diego told you to not press about the incident, but the powers fall under that too. Diego and I, we stayed at her place for a month when something happened. No one got hurt it just, got Vanya all shaken up." Five nodded, clearly unhappy with the answer's he'd gotten.

"I take it there's a lot I'm not supposed to ask about?" Five asked as the two drank their coffee. Klaus had finished his and Five was three-quarters of the way done when Klaus piped up,

"Hey, quick question: What had you all in a bad mood this morning?" Five sighed, but gave no answer. He was contemplating something then asked a question,

"If I give you twenty bucks, will you help me?"

* * *

"Like I said to your son earlier, any information about the prosthetics we build are strictly confidential." How did he get in this situation? "Without the client's consent, I simply can't help you." Klaus was currently sitting in a prosthetics lab wearing one of dad's suits (gross) pretending to be his brother's father.

"Well we can't get consent if you don't give us a name." Klaus was certain Five was about to commit homicide in this very room.

"That's not my problem." He looked around the room, scrounging for ideas when he noticed a snow globe, "Sorry. Now there's really nothing more I can do so-" "Well, what about my consent?"

"Excuse me?" Grant (Was that his name?) asked,

"Who gave you permission to lay your hands, on my son?" Add in some fake tears here and a sniffle, gotta sell this.

"What?" Oh, he's confused Five as well, add that in the long term memory file.

"You heard me!" 

"I didn't touch your son!" Klaus leaned forward towards him,

"Oh really? Well, how did he get that swollen lip then?"

"He doesn't have a swol-" SMACK

Grant looked at him in shock as he leaned over the desk.

"I want it! Name please now!" Klaus kinda wished Ben were here, Grant would really squirm in the presence of the Bentacles.

"You're crazy!" The doctor gasped,

"You have no idea," He looked down and picked up the snow globe, "Peace on earth, that's so sweet!" SMASH "Oh! God that hurt!" 

"I'm calling secu-" Klaus wrenched the phone from his hands and screamed "There's been an assault, in Mr. Bigs office and we need security now. Schnell." Klaus dropped the phone back on the desk, wiping away some of the glitter from the globe. Five stepped forward with a victorious smirk on his face.

"You're gonna do great in prison Grant, trust me I've been there I know. Little piece of chicken like you will be passed around like a, you'll do great." Grant looked at him terrified, and Five looked proud.

"You're a real sick bastard." Klaus fixed him with a dead stare,

"Thank you." Grant quickly stood up leading them out of the office towards the front desk. They passed by two very confused looking security guards who were contemplating following them, but decided against it. 

The three had entered the elevator when Klaus came face to face with Ben. He was about to something, but paused and looked Klaus up and down with a puzzled expression. Klaus shook his head silently telling Ben he would explain later. His brother just rolled his eyes.

"I want to ask but now's not the time." Klaus gave him a puzzled look, "Diego went to the gym to get some work done so that Al doesn't kick you guys out-" "He left Vanya alone?" Grant looked at him confused and Five kept staring straight ahead, though he had tilted his head slightly towards Klaus which meant he was listening.

"Vanya said she would be fine, and he took the medication bottle so we don't need to worry about that." Ben said, "The problem is, is that she had a new student." 

"She teaches kids, what's the problem there? You said she was continuing with lessons-" "The student happened to be a grown man who Vanya was left with. And on top of that, Luther showed up!"

* * *

The building looked small and cramped, but it seemed like the kind of place Vanya would settle into. Luther took another glance up before entering, his shoulder's brushing against the walls on the stairs. The floor creaked beneath his feet, causing him to wonder if he would fall right through onto the lower level. He checked the numbers on the door with the slip of paper Pogo had given him. 

Luther was searching for Diego, wanting to ask more questions about the night Dad had died. He was originally at the boiler room, but was a tad overwhelmed at what he found. There were posters from past fights that his brother participated in, a cross stitch made by mom, fairy lights hung at weird places around the room, with throw pillows and a fuzzy blanket slung across the back of the couch. There were also small nick knacks on every available surface with sketch books and pencils spread across the table. It was apparent that Klaus was living with Diego and had taken over the space.

He had been sitting in a chair, waiting for his brother to appear until something caught his eye. It was a copy of Sherlock Holmes. More importantly, the complete works. Ben had been in the middle of reading the entire series when he died, not getting the chance to finish it. That is what broke the camels back, that is what sent Luther out of the room and back to the Academy. It was a reminder that Ben was dead, but still there. Was he watching Luther right now? 

The unnerving feeling sent him to Pogo, asking if there would be any other places Diego would go. Which lead him here, outside his sister's apartment. Allison was still at the Academy, but had gotten in an argument with her husband and was in a foul mood, so Luther opted to give her space. He was about to knock when the door opened, revealing his sister and an unknown man. The man looked up at him in shock and Vanya seemed to shrink back, trying to hide herself with the door.

"Oh, uh. Guess I'm not the only older student you have." The man seemed to be trying to diffuse the tension in the air,

"No, I-I'm not-" "He's not a student, this is my brother. What are you doing here?" Vanya was still angling herself away from the entrance, barley looking at Luther.

"I, uh, I was looking for Diego. He wasn't at his place. Is he here?" She shook her head, "Well, can I come in? Incase he comes back?" Luther noticed the way she tensed before nodding and he shuffled into the apartment, moving around the man in the entrance. (What was he still doing here?) The two conversed as he looked around,

"Guess I'll see you next week?" Asked the man, "I'm, a woodworker. Have a shop down in Bricktown, you, you should come check it out. If, if you want." Was he a friend of Vanya's? No he mentioned he was a student, so maybe a long term one.

"I'm, I'm sorry, this week I'm busy so..."

"That's fine. Another time then?" The man gave Vanya a soft smile before turning out into the hall. 

Luther watched as she shut the door, resting her head against it. He approached, intending to ask if she was okay but stopped when Vanya flinched back. Why did she flinch away from him? He wasn't going to hurt her. Vanya pushed away from the door and headed to the kitchen, mumbling if he wanted tea. He nodded and walked behind her. Luther sat on one of the small table chairs that creaked under his weight while his sister washed out a mug that had been sitting in the sink as the water was beginning boil and a few moments later their was a steaming cup of tea sitting in front of him.

The silence was deafening. Vanya was washing the dishes in the sink, her back to Luther, he just watched and sipped his tea, grimacing when it burned his tongue. As Vanya was moving around, Luther realized how badly she was limping. She was leaning completely on her left leg and just had the tips of her toes touching the ground of her right. Luther cleared his throat, waiting for his sister to face him,

"Any idea when Diego will be back?" She shook her head and turned back to the dishes. He huffed, taking another sip of his tea. This was frustrating, none of his questions were being answered, but since he was with Vanya...

"Was it really an attack?" Luther asked, Vanya had froze with a mug in a hand, holding it under a stream of water. She wasn't answering, so Luther got up and gently placed a hand on her shoulder, "Vanya?"

He didn't know what to expect, but certainly didn't think she would violently jerk away. Luther watched in horror as Vanya lost her balance and tumble to the floor, the mug in her hand shattering when it came in touch with the ground. He immediately stooped forward, trying to help her up but she scrambled away, breathing heavily with wild eyes. Her hands were shaking and one was bleeding with a small piece of the ceramic mug sticking out of her palm. Before he could point it out to her, Vanya darted away, limping as she went with blood dripping onto the floor behind her.

This, was not how he expected this afternoon to go. 


	6. What's Wrong With Mom?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While going through old memories, Allison finds something strange.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Mention sexual assault and death.

To say it had been a long day would be an understatement. First, Patrick said her rescheduling the therapy appointment could also count as missing an appointment and the court would be notified. Second, Luther was obviously avoiding her for no apparent reason. Third, Pogo tried to cheer her up by showing old security tapes from their childhood. She had thanked Pogo before breaking down in tears once he left. 

The videos showed them running through the halls of the mansion. Allison was chasing Ben while Diego and Luther were behind her, Klaus was sneaking alcohol away from the bar and Vanya standing in the foyer playing her violin. The more she watched, the more she realized there was an occurring theme. Luther and her would be huddled off together while Diego and Ben would be with Klaus and Vanya was by herself. Even when she wasn't playing the violin, Vanya would either be huddled in a corner reading a book or writing things down in a journal. There were multiple times shown with her attempting to immerse herself with the others ended up with them leaving her behind. It seemed the few times she was allowed in they got in trouble somehow and the blame was placed on Vanya. 

Always on Vanya.

She watched the tapes for hours, noticing the different ways her sister was shoved aside. Allison used to think that Vanya retreated into herself on purpose, but what if she thought it was the only way to avoid being hurt? 

She still watched. Allison saw Ben crying in a back hallway, covered in blood with Klaus attempting to comfort him. Luther staring blankly up at Five's portrait. Diego sitting next to Mom with his head on her shoulder as she made a cross stitch. Vanya curled up on Five's bed with her head in her hands, shoulders shaking. 

Dad broke all of them.

Allison sighed, reaching for another tape and put it in. She didn't bother to look at it before inserting it into the player.

The image sputtered to life, showing something Allison was not expecting. 

This...

No this couldn't be...

She needed to tell someone. Luther? No. He would blow it out of proportion.

Diego. He needed to know. It was Mom, he would know what to do.

Allison popped the tape out of the player and rushed to her room. She tucked it away in one of the vanity drawers, not wanting to risk Luther finding it and grabbed her coat. She raced through the hall and down the stairs. Not noticing Pogo watching with a look of disappointment on his face.

She began to drive towards her sister's apartment, hardly paying attention to the traffic around her playing what she saw over and over again in her head. If Luther found out, he'd immediately go down the 'Dad was Murdered' route and that shouldn't happen until they've explored every possibility about why Mom did what she did. Allison parked outside, sighing in relief once she noticed the beat up muscle car that Diego drove. Raised voices could be heard before she got up to the second floor. Allison recognized Diego's angry tone and hurried forwards, hesitating slightly at the sight of the apartment door wide open.

"You don't get to come in here and start making demands!"

"Just give me a straight answer then Diego! If it had nothing to do with The Academy, then why was she hurt at all? How do you know she's telling the truth about what happened?" Allison knew she had to step in before blood was shed. She walked inside quickly and placed herself between her brothers, shoving them away from each other before blows could be delivered.

"How do I know? How do I know?!" Diego paid no mind to her, continuing his verbal assault on Luther, "I was the one called to the damn hospital! I'm the one who talked to the cops! I'm the one who had to carry her up and down the stairs in order to get to an appointment! Where you?!" Luther was about to argue back when Allison interrupted,

"ENOUGH!" That made both of them pause, "Luther, you need to leave. Don't argue just go! And don't you _dare_ insinuate that what happened to Vanya was made up. Suggest that again and I'll rumor you into thinking you're six years old!" He looked at her shocked before stomping out and slamming the door behind him, causing the windows to rattle with the force of it. Diego took in a deep breath and Allison pinched the bridge of her nose, counting to ten in her head before turning towards her brother. He was fuming and was curling his fists at his sides, casting a burning glare onto the floor.

With a sigh, Allison looked around before heading back towards her sister's room, worried that the fighting had sent her into a panic. The door was closed, but she could hear quiet murmuring behind it. She opened it slowly and looked around, unable to locate Vanya but walked in slowly incase she spooked her. Her sister was sitting curled up in a corner farthest from the door and Klaus was huddled with her, positioned in a way that blocked anyone from seeing Vanya. Allison paused, waiting for them to acknowledge that she was there. Her brother looked up and Allison immediately rushed forward, brushing hair away from the cut on his forehead but Klaus pushed her hands away and said,

"Get the first aid kit." She didn't hesitate and bolted out of the room, bumping into Diego in the process.

"Wha-" "Where's the first aid kit?" He paused, "Klaus said get the first aid kit, where is it?" Diego nodded and turned towards the bathroom. He opened the cabinet and grabbed a zip-up pouch that rested on one of the shelves and handed it to her. They both rushed back into the room where there siblings were. Klaus had an arm around Vanya and was holding her hand open with the other, showing them the blood that was smeared across her palm. 

Diego opened the pouch and reached for Vanya's hand, wiping away the blood as Allison began to look over Klaus' cut. They worked in silence, what worried Allison was the fact that Vanya wasn't reacting to anything, as if she...

Oh shit!

Now, Allison had never seen her sister dissociate, but from what her brothers told her, it was unnerving. She shook herself slightly before returning her attention to Klaus, noticing he was wearing one of dad's suits. Why the hell was he wearing dad's suit? No. Question that another time. The cut was cleaned with had a band-aid over it, allowing Klaus to wrap both his arms around Vanya. Diego had pulled out the tweezers and was removing something from their sister's hand. Allison vaguely remembered seeing a broken mug in the kitchen and mad a note to clean it up as soon as possible. They watched as Diego wrapped up her hand, hoping for some reaction from her, but received none. Vanya had completely detached herself from the world. Allison reached out and gripped her free hand tightly, but still nothing. Once he was done Diego picked Vanya up, placing her on the bed as Klaus wrapped a blanket around her.

"What happened?" Allison asked,

"Well, Five was pissed off this morning and asked Vanya what she could do, power wise." "Then Klaus spilled Five's coffee and dragged him out of the apartment," "Then he dragged me down to a prosthetics lab and pretend to be his dad," "What?" "Tell you later." They looked at Klaus confused but decided to let it go for now. "Then Ben found me, saying that Diego had left and her new student was causing her to panic, also that Luther showed up."

"Her student? Doesn't she teach kids? And you both left?" 

"Yeah she does. Though Ben said this student was a full grown man, and I left to stop Five from asking to many questions." Defended Klaus while Diego ran a hand down his face.

"I went to the gym to tell Al Klaus and I wouldn't be there for a few days and grabbed some of our stuff. I wanted to wait until Klaus got back, but Vanya kept telling me she would be fine." He paused, "Her fever was still there when I left but I took the medication with me." Allison sighed roughly,

"And what did Luther want?"

"Big guy wanted to know why I didn't tell him I had a perfect alibi. Clearing me from killing dad. Then decided to start asking, no not ask, he demanded to know what happened. Started spewing his 'I'm Number One' shit." Diego shook his head, "It's a good thing you came in when you did, I probably would've killed him with the way he was talking." Klaus nodded in agreement, stating Ben would've wanted to joined in. They shared a small laugh then sat in silence, waiting for Vanya to come out of her head but it was apparent that it wouldn't happen for awhile. 

Diego and Allison both walked out of the room, putting away the first aid kit and to clean up the broken mug in the kitchen. Allison worried her lip between her teeth, knowing she needed to tell her brother what she found,

"You good?" She looked over at him, and shook her head, "What's wrong?"

"I found something at the house. About the night dad died, and it's not good." Diego approached her, confusion written across his face, "Diego, it's about Mom."

* * *

The five siblings walked into the Academy, the air around them tense. Vanya was still out of it, going through motions and was being led along by Klaus up the stairs to his old room while Allison went to retrieve the footage and Diego walked up to the security room. After retrieving the tape from her room, Allison ran into a ragged looking Five coming while holding a duffle bag. What shocked Allison most were visible tear tracts on his face. He paused, looking up at her before saying,

"I stopped at the library after dropping Klaus off at the apartment. Did a search using Vanya's name." Allison sucked in a breath, "I know it's technically an invasion of privacy, but I wanted to know just the basics of what happened. Another name popped up, Jerome Anders." He watched Allison, gauging her reaction before continuing "The article I found, it called him a rapist. Said he was found guilty on four accounts of sexual assault." Allison nodded,

"He got maximum sentencing, no chance of parole. There would need to be major strings pulled for him to be released." She said. They stood in silence for a few moments before Allison walked past Five and up to the security room, but stopped when he asked,

"Vanya was the fourth account, wasn't she?" Allison turned back, and nodded slightly with tears brimming in her eyes before saying,

"There's still a lot more to the story Five. But please, don't look anymore into it. Vanya needs to be the one who tells you the full story." Five nodded and turned away.

Diego was waiting for her, and noticed immediately something was wrong. Allison shook her head, popped the tape into the VHS player and hit rewind, dreading the reaction from her brother. They waited, then watched what got Allison worried.

It showed their father in his room begin to jolt and jerk in his bed with Mom standing over him as she grabbed his monocle and walked out of the room as if nothing was happening. Her brother reached forward, pressed rewind and watched it again before sitting back in his chair with a sigh.

"Does Luther know?" He quietly asked and Allison shook her head.

"You're the first person I told." He nodded with his head in his hands, "I know he died from a heart attack but this isn't good Diego-" "Yeah I know-" "Just, we need to make a plan on how to handle this before Luther finds out. You and I both know what he'll think." Diego nodded again, then reached into his pocket pulled something out and handed it to her. The small object had Allison's breath getting caught in her throat. Dad's monocle.

"She still had it the day of the funeral. I hopped she just had it to clean but now..." He looked over at her, "Yo-you don't thi-think she did something, d-do you?" Allison shook her head vehemently.

"No Diego! I... I just think we need to find out if there's something wrong with her. And it there is, we need to find out how to fix it." Allison pleaded silently that her brother knew she was on his side, and breathed a sigh of relief when he nodded.

"It's late, we should check on the others. We can figure out what to do tomorrow." Diego stood up and walked out of the room followed by Allison.

(Though neither realized the tape was still in the player, frozen on the picture of their mother abandoning their father to die. They also didn't notice the large figure at the end of the hall that had slipped into the room behind them.)

The two headed towards Klaus' room, and panicked when they saw neither sibling was there. Though calmed down once they found them curled up on Allison's bed. Klaus was wearing a pair of Allison's sweatpants and one of her t-shirts while Vanya wore an old hoodie of Ben's. Their brother was asleep, but Vanya seemed to have become aware of her surroundings and was tracing patterns into Klaus' hand. She didn't look up, but curled closer to Klaus as if she were giving them room on the bed.

Allison shook her head with a smile before grabbing a pair of comfy close to change into and handed Diego his bag begore shoving him out of the room, stating he better not come back in wearing the damn harness. She laid next to her sister, hesitantly placing a hand on Vanya's shoulder. Vanya made no move to shrug her off, but at the same time, didn't respond to her touch. Their brother came back in (He'd changed out of his stupid vigilante outfit at least.) and settled in on the other side of Klaus. 

The four fell asleep like that, (Ben was sitting at Allison's desk watching over them.) unaware of the trial tomorrow would be. 


	7. Gunshots and Maske- Wait, Where's Klaus?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secrets are brought to light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Drug use, dissociation, violence and temporary character death.

The sound of a video being rewound filled the cramped room as Luther re-watched the footage of Grace leaving his father to die. He was angry. Angry at Allison for hiding this from him, and angry at himself for not realizing something was wrong with Grace sooner. Vanya had collapsed at the funeral and Grace hadn't moved a muscle, she just kept smiling. It all added up. If Grace's hardware was degrading, she would need to be shut down. He knew there would be backlash from his siblings, but if she was incapable of even detecting a mild fever and was able to walk out of a room where someone was having a heart attack without batting an eye, who knew how long it would be until one of his siblings was seriously hurt and in need of her help. Only to not receive it. 

Luther sighed, knowing what he needed to do. He exited the room in search of the android, finding her at the charging station with her eyes glowing blue and plugged in. Hesitantly, he reached forward searching of some type of off switch. It took a moment but he found a slit in the synthetic skin on the back of her neck and Luther pulled it away to reveal a multiple of wires and lights, reminding him he was turning off a machine, not killing a real person. There wasn't a button, so Luther took a fist full of wires from Grace's neck, and pulled.

There was a noise that sounded like static, then Grace slumped to the side unmoving. It was done. The others will hate him for this, but he needed to protect his family. Luther didn't think Grace would've hurt them, but it was obvious she wasn't able to do her job. So what good would it do to leave her on?

Minutes passed, close to an hour, before Luther moved away. He lumbered up to the bedrooms, pausing at the noise coming from behind Allison's door. It was shut, but he could hear the quiet murmurs, realizing that four his siblings were in there. Luther pressed his ear against the door trying to eavesdrop on what they were saying.

"It's okay. We all get-" "It's been eight months. Eight. Months. Why am I still having them? Why did they come back now?" It sounded like Vanya was crying, why was she crying?

"Vanya," Allison was speaking, "What happened was awful. It'll take a long time before you fully recover, even then nightmares may still come. And today, with Five and Luther asking questions, it makes sense for everything to boil." There was some silence and shuffling before Vanya muttered something under her breath.

"What?" Diego asked.

"I messed up Ben's hoodie." She's wearing Ben's hoodie? Why the he-

"He says it's okay, nothing a trip to the washing machine won't fix." Luther sighed, Ben was still here. That was still something he was struggling to wrap his head around. 

"You should try to go back to sleep, we'll be here if you have another one." That was surprising, Diego never seemed to be one to give comfort. There was more shuffling and then silence, signifying they had gone back to sleep. The largest Hargreeves moved to his room, shedding his jacket as he went. Luther changed into the only pair of pajamas that fit him, not looking in the mirror, and laid down on the to small bed with his thoughts running rampant. He shook his head and closed his eyes, trying to sleep. 

He must have been successful because the next moment, someone was violently shaking his shoulder and the sun was streaming into the room. Luther turned over and blearily rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked up.

"Allison? What's wrong?" She was looking down at him in shock and horror.

"What did you do?" 

"What?" She shook her head and motioned for him to follow her. Luther shrugged on his jacket and headed out behind her. It wasn't until they rounded the corner to Grace's charging station that he realized what was found. 

Diego was on his knees with his head down, gripping Grace's hands while Klaus stood behind him with a hand on his shoulder and Vanya was huddled against the wall, eyes wide. Klaus and Vanya looked up as they approached and Allison walked to their sister, wrapping her arms around Vanya. No one said anything until Diego spoke up in a raspy voice,

"T-tell me you didn't do-do this." When Luther didn't answer Diego raised his blood shot eyes and said, "Tell me, you didn't do this." Luther had opened his mouth, defend his actions but the words were stuck in his throat. The sight of Diego openly crying in front of him and the others caught him off guard, his brother never cried in front of them, he would always hide it. Luther could honestly not name a single time he'd seen his brother cry. 

He shook his head and tried to get the words out again, but his silence seemed to be an enough answer for them. Diego was shaking and Klaus had his shoulder in a tight grip as if he could hold their brother back if he decided to attack Luther. And that's what happened.

Diego jumped up and charged him. Luther blocked his attack easily and pinned his arms down, ignoring the shouts of protest from the others. Diego thrashed and Klaus tried prying him out of Luther's grip but ultimately failed causing Allison to join the fray, yelling for Luther to put their brother down. It went on for awhile and didn't seem to be winding down anytime soon, until...

CRASH!!

Two paintings from the wall had fallen to the floor, while a few others were crooked. It had grabbed the attention of Allison, Klaus and Diego, causing them to pause and turn towards the wall. Luther had released Diego from his grasp and was staring curiously at the fallen pictures, how the hell had that happened? 

"Vanya?" He looked up as Klaus bolted off around the corner, realizing their smallest sister was no where to be seen. Allison and Diego shared a look before hurrying after their brother, leaving Luther with the still body of Grace. The wires were still sticking out of her neck, disrupting the perfect alignment of her hair. Her hair was never out of place, part of their Father's programing no doubt. 

He shook his head, now wasn't the time to start regretting his actions, it was already done. So with that, Luther walked away towards were his siblings had run. They were standing in the foyer conversing amongst themselves, Vanya was nowhere to be seen. 

"Even with the limp, Vanya's pretty damn fast!" Klaus exclaimed.

"We need to find her, who knows what state of mind she's in right now." Added Diego while Allison nodded,

"Alright, I'll look around Diego, you should stay here incase she comes back-" "No." "Diego you're in no condition to-" "I'm not staying here, alone with him!" Allison pursed her lips and Klaus interjected,

"I can stay here, Diego can go to the apartment incase Vanya goes there!" Diego seemed about to argue, but nodded begrudgingly and Allison sighed in relief and followed him out of the house, saying she would call in about an hour if nothing turned up and left Klaus standing on the steps by himself.

"She'll be okay, right?" His brother had turned his head, seemingly talking to no one. "She has to be okay." Silence, "I know I know! Why do you have to be right?" He groaned, running a hand down his face and sitting on the steps, waiting. 

Luther was about to approach his brother, but thought better of it and instead headed up to the back staircase, taking the long way to the kitchen with a sigh. Why had Vanya run off? Was it because of the fight? What he did? He shook his head, unsure of the real answer to the question. He lumbered off into the kitchen, running into Pogo. The old chimp seemed to know what had happened.

"You did what you thought was right, my dear boy." Luther appreciated the comforting gesture, but felt deep in the pit of his stomach, he didn't deserve it.

* * *

Vanya was semi-aware of an ache in her leg. She had been running as best as she could with the limp. She'd not taken her medication last night, or this morning because Diego still had the bottle hidden away somewhere. The dull thrum of her powers was still running beneath her skin, threatening to boil over and lash out, break anything in sight, but she paused, took a deep breath and pushed it down. Not wanting to cause a scene here. 

Wait. Were was here? How long had she been running?

She looked around, hoping for some sign that would give a clue of her location but was unable to find one. Vanya kept walking, pausing when someone called out.

"Vanya? Hey Vanya!" She turned around and saw her newest student, Leonard, exiting a store and approaching her. "Hey, thought that was you."

"Leonard, hi. I- uh..." Vanya honestly had no clue what to say.

"Are you alright? What happened?" He took a step forward, but stopped when Vanya stepped back, "Is, is your hand okay?" Oh, the bandages.

"Uh yeah I, tripped, mug shattered." Vanya mumbled. Leonard nodded before saying,

"Hey uhm, you're here, do you want to come in?" Leonard said, gesturing to the door behind him before opening it, looking at her expectantly. Vanya didn't really want to, but also didn't want to be rude so she nodded her thanks and walked inside. She looked around at all the chairs and tables piled around the room as Leonard began to speak,

"Restoration antiques, my bread and butter. I uh, do play around with other things." Vanya nodded, something about the way he acted reminded her of something, but what? "You can take a look if you want." He gestured to the back of the store before entering the enclosed area, though he paused, as if checking to see if she followed. It made her uncomfortable, the way he looked at her, but went into the back so he wouldn't be offended. 

"You made these?" He nodded, "They're beautiful." It wasn't a lie, the figurines that lined the shelves were well crafted. 

"Thanks, my favorite is the ballerina, kinda my best. Or maybe the duck, or the other duck." Leonard smirked before reaching for one hidden in a corner, "Though there is one you should see." He pulled out a small figure playing the violin, obviously meant to be her.

"Is that supposed to-" "Yeah, yeah it is." He said, sounding embarrassed. "You know what? You should take it."

"No, no I couldn't." But he shook his head, still holding the figurine out to her.

"I insist! I made it for you, you inspired me!" That was it. That is what made Vanya finally realize what, or rather who, his behavior reminded her of. Leonard was acting close to how Peter Michelson did before he...

There was a hand on her shoulder causing her to jerk back into the wall. Someone was talking, something thudded to the floor, something was shaking. Was that her or the room? It was both. Vanya took a breath, then another and another until everything seemed to stopped moving. She opened her eyes and saw Leonard standing a few feet a way with a puzzled expression on his face, grip tightened on the figure in his hand.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to-" "No! No! It's my fault um. Do you have a phone I can borrow I need to make a call, I need to call my siblings." He nodded and pointed to the corner where the phone perched on the wall. Vanya thanked him before turning to the phone and dialed the number for the Academy. It rang for a few seconds before someone answered,

"Hello, Hargreeves' residence, may I ask who is speaking?" Vanya took a breath at the familiar voice,

"Pogo?"

"Ms. Vanya! Are you alright? Your siblings are worried about you." 

"I, I'm okay. Are any of them there? Are they okay? With what happened with Mom..." Pogo sighed on the other end,

"Master Diego and Ms. Allison went out to look for you, but Master Klaus and Master Luther are still here. I can go find Master Klaus if you would like." Vanya said yes and Pogo went off to retrieve her brother. 

She was hyperaware of Leonard's unwavering gaze on her back.

"Hello? Vanya?" She almost cried in relief at the sound of her brother's voice,

"Klaus? I- I'm sorry I shouldn't have run off but-" "Vanya hey no! No! It's okay. Are you okay? Allison went out to look for you. Where are you?" She took a shuddering breath,

"I'm okay, well as okay as I can be at the moment. And uh, I'm in Bricktown at the moment. What about you? How are you with, everything?" Klaus sighed,

"I'm... Alright. Ben's here so I'm not going insane. Bricktown? That's awaze away. One hell of a walk." He let out a light chuckle before continuing, "Um, Diego's at the apartment right now, I'll call him so he can come pick you up?" Vanya agreed, telling him about a small coffee shop that was a block away, saying that's where she'll be. "Alright, I'll tell Diego. Allison should call in a few minutes so I'll tell her to come back here." They exchange goodbyes and hang up. 

Vanya turned back, and ran right into Leonard. Shit.

"Everything okay?" She nodded "Okay, um, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but is everything okay? You, said something about your mom?" Vanya shook her head, 

"Thanks for showing me everything, but I, I need to go. I'm meeting my brother so uh..." She gestured towards the door, sidestepping Leonard and headed towards the exit. He nodded, but before he could say anything, Vanya had already left. 

The air was crisp, but it had nothing to do with the tremors running down Vanya's spine. She was waiting outside the coffee shop for about ten minutes when she saw him. Leonard was walking across the street towards her, almost causing Vanya to begin to panic, but she calmed slightly when a familiar car pulled up and Diego stepped out. He approached Vanya, and was caught off guard when she wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Her brother hesitated, but returned the gesture, quietly asking if something was wrong. Vanya shook her head and asked if they could leave. Diego nodded, opening the door for her and speeding off towards the Academy. If Vanya looked in the rearview mirror, she would've noticed Leonard watch with anger and disappointment as they left.

* * *

Allison sat next to her sister on the couch in the main room. Diego had gone off in search of Klaus, leaving the two by themselves. Luther was wondering around upstairs somewhere, not wanting to show his face and Five was, not here. No one knew where their smallest brother had gone, but they knew he wasn't in the mansion. 

The silence that had surrounded the two sisters was disrupted by a _plink_ of something bouncing across the floor in the hallway. They shared a puzzled look with each other before Allison went to investigate. She rounded the corner as the front door opened, and two people with masks and guns entered. They looked around as Allison backtracked quickly, trying to get to Vanya before they saw her, but she wasn't fast enough.

Bullets whizzed around her as she ran through the room, unable to get to Vanya. From what she could tell, one of the assailants was behind her, meaning the other stayed behind! If one of them touched a hair on Vanya's head, she would personally rip them to shreds. The intruder kicked her knee, causing Allison to stumble into the kitchen, right to where Diego was waiting with one of sticks from the fooseball table. Her brother swung, causing the intruder to drop the gun yelling out in pain. This one was a woman, by the sound of it. She managed to fend them off and said,

"We just want the boy!" The boy? Five?

"Oh, well in that case." Allison kicked her in the stomach, causing the masked woman to stumble back.

The siblings took turns attacking her, but she was able to shake them off running up the stairs and didn't even pause when Diego threw one of his knives. They both checked each other over for injuries before Allison said,

"There's two of them! The other's out in the main room!" Her brother nodded and they took off.

They were both shocked at the sight of Luther on the ground, trying to get up as the other assailant ran out of the room, Vanya was nowhere insight. Allison sighed in relief, hoping her sister was safe and went to pull Luther up. Between her and Diego, Luther was on his feet in seconds. But it wasn't good enough.

Allison spotted the woman on the second floor and could only watch as she pulled something loose, causing the chandelier above them to creak come speeding towards them. Luther shoved her and Diego out of the way just as someone screamed a loud,

"NO!" There was a startling wind and the chandelier veered off course. Sadly, not all the way.

It caught on Luther's jacket, tearing through it and causing him to stumble. He pushed away, but the jacket and shirt were caught so when Luther pulled away, there was a loud rip! The sleeve tore away to reveal long, thick fur and leathery skin that their brother so desperately tried to hide. But Luther wasn't looking at his arm, he was looking at something behind Allison. She turned around and saw Vanya leaning against the doorway shaking violently, and slid to the floor.

"Are you okay? Vanya?" Allison rushed forward, gripping her sister's arms. Vanya seemed to be trying to speak, but the heavy thudding footsteps of Luther caused her to shrink back.

"What was that?" Allison looked up at him, "What did she do?" Diego approached behind Luther, fingers dancing across on of his knives, as if expecting Luther to attack. Their brother looked between her and Vanya, waiting for an answer.

"Medication. Allison I need my-" "What Vanya? No look we-" "I haven't taken any today! Or last night!" Vanya was looking at her with terrified eyes and Allison could feel faint vibrations running through the floor away from her sister.

"It's in my bag upstairs." Diego said, "I'll get it and Luther can check on Klaus." Allison nodded, trying to get Vanya back on her feet as Luther began to protest,

"What no! How are you both-" He cut himself off as realization crossed his face, "You both knew." Neither were looking at him, their focus on their shaking sister as Allison lead her to the bullet ridden couch. There was a broken mace on the floor, making Allison realize Vanya had defended herself and Luther saw. That and the chandelier, he knows they've been hiding something from him.

Diego checked with the both of them, making sure they were okay before heading upstairs, casting a warning look towards Luther. Their brother was still looking bewildered. Allison glanced up at him, fixing him with a determined stare, hoping it would be enough to drop it for now. But it wasn't.

"Allison, why didn't you tell me?" His face was marred with hurt and confusion.

"You didn't need to know-" "Didn't need to-" Luther shook his head in anger, "She managed to shatter a damn mace and move a chandelier! And you're telling me I didn't need to know?" Something cracked, causing Vanya to flinch. Allison knew she needed to get Luther out of here.

"Yes Luther, you didn't need to know. Why? Because you would've acted irrationally, just like with Mom." Luther stumbled back and looked ashamed, but she ignored that. "So if you want to be helpful, go find Klaus!" Allison turned away, focusing on the trembling sister in front of her, trying to calm her down. She heard Luther stomp out of the room, and quick footsteps enter, signifying Diego's return. He sat next to Vanya and handed her the pills. Their sister opened it with shaking hands, dumping three into her palm.

"Hey, no." Diego said, "Only one alright?" Allison reached forwards and took the extra two from their sister, holding her breath, waiting for Vanya to protest and sighed in relief when she didn't. Vanya just stared at the one in her hand for a moment, then dry swallowed it and Diego took the bottle, placing it on the side table as Allison moved to the other side of Vanya, holding her close. They both were discreetly looking their sister over for injuries when Luther lumbered back into the room, his face set in a frown.

"Are you sure Klaus was here?" He asked,

"Yeah he was. He wouldn't have left without saying anything." Explained Diego, "Why?"

"I couldn't find him." Stated Luther, "I looked everywhere, he's not here." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let it be known when it comes to writing action scenes, I fucking suck.


	8. Two Missing Brothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diego and Luther attempt to track down their siblings as the sisters try to have a somewhat normal day. And why the fuck is Leonard here?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Torture

The week for Detective Patch just kept getting worse and worse, there were no leads on the shoot out at Griddy's or at the Gimbel Brother's Department Store. Her only possible witness to the first was a child no one knew the identity of and one of the people who could give a description of the boy had to be cut down from the celling of his garage before heading to the morgue. Patch sighed, the only supposedly good thing was that Diego hadn't been disrupting the crime scenes, which just raised more concerns.

If Diego wasn't snooping around and talking to her witnesses, that only meant something very, very bad had happened. The last time, Vanya had been injured and assaulted causing him to take months off in order to take care of her. He probably would've stayed away longer if the argument between the siblings hadn't happened. Diego claimed he went back because Klaus had gotten completely sober and Vanya was doing fine by herself, but Eudora was no idiot, he had started to feel useless again. 

After getting kicked out of the police academy, Diego dove headfirst into finding a job and Eudora supported him. He had her convinced that he had found one at the Fighting Line, but when Diego disappeared for two days, she went down to look for him. Eudora was pissed and angry to find out that not only was he not working there, he had also not been there for about a week. She spent the rest of the day scrounging around and was about to start hunting down his siblings when Eudora got a message from the hospital, saying Diego had been found in a back alleyway with a bullet in his shoulder. That was the beginning of the end for them.

She had scolded him, borderline yelled. Patch had asked why, why the hell he lied when Diego had shouted,

_"I can't just sit by when there are people who need my help!"_

Diego never said it outright, but she could tell sitting on the sidelines made him feel like he was letting people down. That actually having a job and not going out every night to beat random thugs half to death meant he wasn't doing everything he could. That learning about a crime that was half a block after it happened made Diego feel useless. Eudora always told him that it would get him killed.

She just hopped that wasn't the case this time.

With a sigh, Eudora filled her travel mug, put on her jacket and headed out the front door.

And almost stepped on Diego Hargreeves stretched across her front porch.

"What the hell?" He'd turned his head towards her as he sat up, "Who'd you piss off this time?" Eudora handed him her mug that he took with a nod of thanks.

"I gave it as good as I got." Diego sighed. "It's been a hell of a week."

"Tell me about it." He shot her a curious glance. "What?" 

"What?"

"You mean to tell me, that you haven't been listening to that police radio I know you shouldn't have?" She asked incredulously as Diego shook his head. Patch sat quietly, listening to Diego's week. Luther accusing them of murder, their long lost brother returning, Vanya's fever, his Mom, and the shoot out that ha-

Shoot out?!?!

"What the hell do you mean your house was shot up last night?" He looked shocked at her outburst and sighed,

"I mean, two masked people came into my house looking for my brother. They tried to kill my family!" Patch could tell he was getting worked up and placed a calming hand on his shoulder, mulling over what he said.

"Masked people?" Diego nodded, "They wouldn't happen to be blue and pink? Based off of animals-" "How'd you know?" She sighed, normally, Patch would never give him information on a case, but...

"I've had two shoot outs in one week. The first was at Griddy's the second at Gimbel Brother's. Security at both places is non-existent, but first responders at the scene for the second said they saw two people wearing kids masks fleeing."

"The paperwork must be a nightmare." Diego scoffed,

"A real page turner." Patch was about to stand back up, but the look of worry and defeat on Diego's face stopped her, "There's something you're not telling me." 

Diego nodded, running a hand down his face and was clenching his jaw, it's only because Patch knew him for so long that she knew he was trying to control how the words he wanted to say come out.

"They were looking for my brother. And I don't know why. All I know is that no ones seen Five since yesterday, and don't get me wrong, Five is more than capable of taking care of himself but..."

"He's your brother Diego, you have a right to be worried-" "I know it's just..." He let out a harsh breath before continuing, "Klaus is also missing. And I think those masked psychopaths took him."

* * *

"Number Five! Where is he!" The woman behind Klaus had a garrote wrapped around his neck, cutting of his airflow.

"Don't. Stop." He rasped, "I'm, almost there..." A loud groan escaped his mouth as the lady leaned over his shoulder and looked down.

"Is that a...?" The heavy footsteps of her partner approached.

"Yep." The garrote was let go, and Klaus took a deep gulp of breath and began to laugh.

"There's nothing like a little, _strangling,_ to get the blood flowing! Am I right?" He continued to laugh manically while looking at Ben.

The past ten hours had been hell. Klaus was taking a bath once he knew Vanya was back at the Academy, and was rudely hit on the head when he got out, so all he was wearing was a towel. The first thing Ben had told him when he woke up was that he needed to make Ben corporeal and get out. But before Klaus could even make sense of the words coming out of his brother's mouth, his kidnappers had started in with the punches. Any time Klaus was starting to grasp at his power, they started with something new, causing him to lose what small grip he had gotten.

"What's so funny asshole?" The man asked,

"Well, for one," Klaus sucked in a breath, "You spent the last ten hours, beating me senseless, and have learned absolutely NOTHING!" There was another slap to the back of his head.

"Make him stop talking!" The woman approached while saying,

"Let's waterboard him!" His head was roughly pulled back and a wash cloth was slapped across his face as water was poured over his face. Klaus began to gurgle, but slurped at the drops when the towel was pulled away.

"Ah! Thank you so much! I was _soooo_ parched!" The two captors marched off in a huff and Klaus let the façade drop.

He may have convinced his captors that he was some sadistic bastard who enjoyed pain (well, he did, but in a more sexy sense that was most definitely not happening here!) but it was starting to wear him down. Over the past ten hours he's been burned, cut, hit, strangled, Klaus was just happy they hadn't broken any bones. Ben was hovering beside him with worry etched into every corner of his face, and he wasn't the only one. The captors had been busy, if the dozen ghosts that followed them were anything to go by. The past victims were looking at him with either concern or indifference, as if they didn't know how long it would be before he joined them.

"Klaus?" He looked up at Ben and shook his head, conveying to his brother that he had no energy to manifest him. Before Ben could say anything, the footsteps of his captors approached and Klaus looked back down, letting his mask slip back on. There was the noise of something opening and closing when a fist full of his hair was pulled, causing Klaus to look up on the dead eyes of the pink dog mask.

"You still thirsty?" That was a weird question and it caught him off guard.

"Am I...? Oh how kind of you to ask! No, the uh, the waterboarding quenched my thirst." Klaus flashed her a toothy grin. What concerned him, was the fact he couldn't see the male captor and there was the sound of running water. 

"Really? Well, we just want to be sure." Footsteps began to approach the two as the blue bear entered into his line of vision. Why was he holding an ice bucket?

Klaus' question was answered immediately. The man raised it over his head, tipped the contents over him causing ice and freezing water to cascade down his body. Some got caught in his mouth and he tried turning his head to spit it out, but the woman's grip was made of steel and he began to choke. Once the bucket was empty, Klaus' head was shoved forward and he spit up whatever he could, shaking from head to toe. Freezing cold water was dumped on him three more times before it stopped, and Klaus was shaking so badly that his whole body hurt while his teeth chattered loudly. Ben crouched in front of Klaus as the captors moved away, looking him over as Klaus shook his head again. He kept reaching, but with every new hurt he couldn't focus enough to bring Ben forward. 

Minutes went by before they reappeared, the man wrapped his hand over Klaus' jaw, effectively sealing his mouth shut and the woman was standing in front of him, holding a steaming hair curler. Klaus could only watch and jerk as she brought it closer to his skin, letting out a muffled scream as it touched the sore, bleeding skin of his chest. He tried to keep still, but the searing pain was causing him to try and move away from the heat. It was held there for a moment, then was moved to make parallel mark on his skin, and it didn't stop. The woman moved it down his torso, leaving red, angry, inflamed skin in it's wake before doing the same of the other side. Klaus was certain he was going to pass out. The pain was moving slowly and all he could do was scream into the hand holding his mouth shut.

After what seemed like an eternity, it finally stopped.

Only for it to be slammed down on his hand, burning the skin on his fingers, hand and wrist.

He blacked out.

* * *

Allison tried to focus on the music that was wafting through the auditorium. Vanya's fever had finally broken that morning, but she still had a mild headache, nothing some advil couldn't fix. She had tried to call in from rehearsal, stating that she would rather help look for their brothers, but the conductor told Vanya in no uncertain terms that her missing another rehearsal this close to the concert meant she would not be allowed to perform with the others. Diego told her to go, that she could join in the search once it was over and gave Allison a look that said, 'Go with her'. Their brother had dropped them off outside Icarus before explaining he was going to pay a visit to Detective Patch, ask if she could do anything on her end and then drove off leaving the sisters alone.

Vanya walked up to the stage where the rest of the orchestra was and began setting up. Allison immediately noticed the side glances some of the musicians gave her sister and how Vanya didn't notice. Or simply ignored. With a shake of her head, Allison sat down and watched them begin, letting the music wash over her. Well, she tried to. Her mind kept wondering back to the conversation she had with Luther that morning.

" _I mean, when I left you were still... What happened?"_

_"Dad sent me on a mission, and it went badly. He saved my life."_

_"Why didn't you tell me? I could have... Would have helped you through it!"_

_"I was fine. I am fine. Besides, I didn't know how you would've reacted. For all I know, you could've acted irrationally."_

Luther had thrown the words she had used the night before back in her face, intending for it to hurt. And it did. Allison wouldn't lie and say they had, something, when they were kids, but whatever it was had obviously faded over time, on her part at least. The comradery they had as children was gone and wouldn't come back overnight, and while Allison wished it would, it was probably for the best that it hadn't.

Thinking over the past few months, getting closer to her brother's, trying to get closer to Vanya, she wondered what would have happened if she hadn't. Would she have told Luther about the tape of Mom? Would she have gone along with the idea of Mom being turned of without so much of a discussion? Her thoughts tumbled and turned in her head, moving from question to question. Allison was so lost in her head she almost missed it when the conductor called rehearsal to an end and the musicians began to pack up. She was about to approach the stage but hesitated, wondering if Vanya would appreciate any help packing up. In the end, Allison wished she had gone ahead.

There was a man walking through the stream of musicians towards Vanya, causing her sister to tense. Allison began to run through names she had heard during Vanya's case but only came up with Jerome Anders (who's in prison) and Peter Michelson (who's dead), so who the hell was this guy? She made a quick pace towards the two, catching the end of what the man was saying.

"... make sure you were okay. Yesterday, you seemed-" "That's sweet but, I'm okay." Vanya caught sight of Allison and her face broke out in relief causing the man to turn around. 

"Oh hi I'- Wait a minute, I know you! You were in that movie! The lawyer in the wheelchair!" He gave her a broad smile that, didn't quite reach his eyes, "Weren't you also in that umbrella thing?" 

"Yeah, that's me. Vanya?" She turned towards her sister, "We're still on for coffee at Petrola's?" 

"Oh, yeah I uh, just let finish packing up then we can head out." Vanya scrambled to put her things away as the man turned back to her,

"Well, uh I guess that answers my question. Um, what about tomorrow?" He smiled softly and Vanya shook her head,

"I'm sorry, there's a family emergency we're taking care of. I, most likely not see you until next week-" "Another time then?" Vanya gave a tentative nod and he walked away, brushing past Allison as he went. She watched him leave before rushing forward, gripping Vanya's trembling hands.

"Are you alright? Who was that?" 

"Leonard Peabody. My new student." Vanya slipped her hands out of Allison's and resumed putting away her violin. Allison began to gather up the sheet music that surrounding and put them into an open folder.

"Seems like he wants to be more than a student." Vanya nodded, snapping the lid shut on her violin. "Are you okay?" Her sister took a shuddering before shaking her head. Allison pursed her lips before helping Vanya to her feet, handing her the crutch and taking hold of the violin case. 

The two exited the theatre and Allison hailed a taxi. They sat in the crammed in the back seat, with Vanya resting her head under Allison's chin. She watched the different buildings past the window, worries clouding her mind. It wasn't until Allison gasped and told the driver to pull over, then the sisters were standing in front of the Argyle Library.

"What are we doing here?" Asked Vanya,

"I just remembered something Five said. He said he found your book in one of the last libraries, whatever that means. And if he time traveled to a different time, but the same city-" "Then this is where he would've found it." They shared a look before heading inside, taking in the massive size of the building before starting to scour each floor, both finally meeting back up on the final level with no sign of their brother.

Vanya was leaning up against the railing, out of breath and Allison was watching her worryingly. The sisters stood in silence, wondering what the hell to do now when a small commotion broke out near the elevator.

"Were are his parents?!"

"I'm calling security!" They shared a look before shoving there way through the small crowd, and saw Number Five cuddling a mannequin with an empty bottle of vodka hanging limply from his hand.

"Oh god!" Muttered Vanya.

"Well, we found him." Allison sighed, "What the hell happened?"

* * *

Luther was standing behind a line of yellow police tape as Diego conversed with a female detective. He watched as first responders and fire fighters attempted to put out the fire that had ravaged the prosthetics lab and sighed. He had been looking for Five when he ran into Diego who was looking for Klaus. Neither were having luck on either end. Luther was about to give up when Diego mentioned that Five had taken Klaus to a prosthetics lab for some reason that his vigor was renewed and he set off with Diego grumbling behind him. Though it was obvious that they weren't going to get any answers about their brother because, well...

The building was crawling with cops and on fire.

One of the detectives caught sight of them and called Diego over as Luther stayed behind. He looked around, and something caught his eye. 

There was a truck with dust covering the front windshield with the words _Your brother says hi!_ scrawled on the surface with a matchbook sticking out from the wipers.

"Luther! The hell are you..." He looked over at Diego before pulling the matchbook out and read it. Lunar Motel. Where the hell was that? Diego snatched it out of his hand before saying,

"Let's go." They didn't get very far because the detective from earlier came over, stopping them. "He messed with the evidence, not me!" What?

"Diego that's not!" She paused, took a deep breath then said, "You found something. What?"

"Maybe where they're keeping Klaus." Replied Diego. The woman nodded before looking down in contemplation. She looked up, muttered a quiet 'hang on' before rushing back to her partner, the two conversed for a short moment and she came back, motioning them to get into one of the cruisers parked a small ways away. Diego jumped into the passenger, leaving Luther to squeeze into the back seat.

"Where to?" Asked the woman,

"Lunar Motel." Diego replied with a smirk, "Finally doing things my way, huh Patch?"

"Shut up." 

The drive was silent. Diego was twirling a knife, Luther kept shifting in his seat and the woman (Patch?) focused on the road. A sign that read Lunar Motel finally came into view about twenty minutes later and Diego had jumped out of the car before it was even parked, leaving the other two to get out of the car and run after him. 

"Diego!" Luther shouted,

"Diego wait!" Hissed Patch as they caught up with him, "What?" He just pointed at the ground, reviling a small puddle and blood splatters. Luther felt dread settle into his gut, that... It couldn't be Klaus', could it? Diego drew a knife before following the trail to a door labeled, employees only and opened it a small crack.

BANG!

Luther's ears were ringing, but his focus was on his Diego. Diego was on the ground with blood pooling out from his side and was trying to scramble away from the door as more bullets flew through. Luther snapped out of his stupor and grabbed his brother, pulling him out of the line of fire and pushing Patch behind as she screamed at them to run back to the car. Diego had his arm strung across his shoulder and Patch was firing bullets behind, trying to give them cover. 

There was a hiss of air and the tires deflated. They couldn't escape in that. The three huddled behind the cruiser, Patch looking at her gun with the realization she was out of ammo and Diego was losing blood. Luther pressed down on his brother's side trying to stem the flow when the hail of bullets stopped. Diego gasped out,

"Get ready to run!" 

"What?" Patch looked at him in disbelief.

"Go to Vanya's! She has a first aid kit-" "Diego! You need a hospital-" "They'll look for us there!" He looked at Patch intently and she nodded. Once Diego had confirmation that's where they would go, he hauled himself up using the car for support and the bullets started flying again. Luther watched as he stretched out his arms and the bullets seemed to slow in mid-air.

The assailants stopped firing, looking curiously at what was happening and Luther heard the woman scream in warning once they were sent wizzing back in the other direction, towards them. Luther grabbed his brother and pulled him over his shoulder before taking off down the street with Patch running behind them. They kept going. Not stopping until they reached an alley about five blocks away. 

Diego was gasping for breath and had blood running out of his nose. Patch stepped forward and applied pressure to his side as Luther ripped part of the overcoat he was wearing into makeshift bandages. The two of them manage to stop the bleeding and sighed in relief as Diego wiped at the blood on his face.

"You alright?" Diego looked at him and replied,

"Never better." Patch was rechecking the bandages and said,

"The bullet went through, but you should go to the hospital."

"No," Luther started, "Diego's right, that's probably the first place they'll look. We also can't go back to the Academy because they've broken into it before."

"So, we're going to your sister's then?" She sighed, "What if she's not there?" Diego grunted and fished a pair of keys out of his pocket.

"Well, it's a good thing I have a spare."


	9. An Impromptu Family Gathering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The siblings regroup at Vanya's apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Blood, injury, panic attacks and most likely inaccurate medical use.

The sun had just disappeared when Vanya's apartment building came into view. The sisters had taken the long way back, trying not to be seen ( or recognized in Allison's case) carrying an unconscious teenager and half mannequin. Allison had the violin strapped across her back and Five positioned in her arms while Vanya awkwardly carried the mannequin they had found their brother cuddling in the elevator. She looked over at Five worryingly, he had barely twitched when they had run out of the elevator with him. He only protested when they removed his 'friend' away from him and had to assure Five that the, mannequin, would go with them and he calmed again before slipping back unconscious. 

When they arrived, Vanya noticed something dark on the steps. It was, liquid?

Wait!

"Allison..." She turned back and noticed what Vanya was looking at, "Is that, blood?" They shared a look before slowly walking up the stairs, realizing that the spots of blood continued up as well. 

There was also the sound of shuffling and cursing coming from the hallway. The two stopped as Allison tried to peek around the corner to see who was there, but Five chose that moment to blearily slur loudly,

"Wh'tss goin' on?" Vanya clapped a hand over her brother's mouth but her crutch clattered to the ground. 

Footsteps came towards them. Coming closer, and closer and closer. They held their breath as a figure rounded the corner and was revealed to be-

"Detective?"

"Allison? Vanya? Oh thank god!" Detective Eudora Patch slumped in relief before catching sight of Five in Allison's arms, "What the hell?" Vanya and Allison tried sputtering out a response before Patch cut them off. "You know what? Tell me later! Vanya give me the, thing, you need to unlock your door, Diego's hurt and needs help." She barely got the last word out before the mannequin was shoved into her arms and Vanya was darting around the corner.

Luther was standing in front of her door and Vanya could make out the hunched figure of Diego leaning against the wall behind him, holding his side with a grimace on his face. Vanya didn't even pause and shoved her keys into Luther's hand as she moved towards her brother, grabbing the arm that was not wrapped around his torso and slung it over her shoulder. He cast her a glance but didn't get the chance to protest as she moved forward, making sure to support Diego as best as she could. They shuffled clumsily through the open door and Vanya cast a glare at Luther when he tried to take her place, causing him to back up.

"First aid kit is in the bathroom." She stated and proceeded to head towards her room. The couch may have been closer, but Five was smaller and would only be hungover while Diego seemed to have some sort of physical injury. 

Her leg was aching, but Vanya ignored it choosing to focus on getting her brother situated. Once he was laying down, Vanya moved his hand in order to get a look but froze when she felt something wet on his glove. She pulled it off immediately and whipped at the substance, gasping when her hand came a way red with blood. (There had been blood in the hallway but not this much was he losing to much how does she stop it?) Luther came in at that point with the large pouch of medical supplies and stopped when he saw the red liquid. Vanya turned and ran passed him towards the hall closet, she pulled out some towels and rushed back into her room.

Diego was being held up by Luther as he began unwrapping the makeshift bandages, revealing the wound in his side. Blood trickled out and onto the bed, staining the comforter red. Vanya shook herself before rushing forward, she pressed a towel to the bullet holes on either side and gently maneuvered Diego so he was laying on his uninjured side while instructing Luther to apply pressure as she got everything ready.

The spare towels were rolled and placed under Diego to elevate the injury and Vanya brought out the antiseptic, disinfectant, gauze, bandages, needle and thread. She approached her brothers quickly, moving Luther's hands and the towel out of the way so she could check the injury. There were a few drops of blood trickling out of the exit wound so Vanya had Luther reapply the pressure as she maneuvered herself onto the bed and began disinfecting the entry wound, but made sure to keep the needle out of her brother's sight. Once she was certain the wound was clean, Vanya turned towards Diego,

"You need to close your eyes." He looked at her questionably, "It needs stitches." Diego's eyes widened a fraction before he squeezed them shut.

The thread went through the eye of the needle, Vanya shakily tied a knot and began sewing up his side. It wasn't like this was the first time she's done this. When Vanya was a child, she wanted to be of use to her siblings, they were risking their lives, the least she could do was help Mom put them back together when they were hurt. She felt Luther's gaze burning the side of her head, watching as she stitched their brother's side closed. It wasn't until after she was bandaging the entry wound and Diego had his eyes open again that he asked,

"How did you know how to do that?" Vanya didn't spare him a glance as she replied,

"I asked Mom to teach me." Before he could ask anything else, Vanya stood up and went to the exit wound. Luther pulled his hands away and watched as she finished taking care of their brother. 

Vanya walked over to her closet when she was finished, pulling out a pair of sweatpants and a jacket. She turned around at the sound of Diego grunting and saw him trying to sit up while slapping away the hand Luther offered him. He began to roll his shirt back down but stopped when Vanya chucked the clothes she was holding at him, causing him to look at her.

"You're not wearing bloodstained clothes!" Vanya stated, "Now get changed. Or do you need help?" Luther looked between the two as if expecting Diego to protest, but his eyes widened with shock when their brother sighed and mumbled,

"I'll be fine." Vanya studied him for a moment before gesturing for Luther to exit the room and followed him out.

After the closing the door behind her, Vanya gave Luther a tight smile and moved into the bathroom. Once inside Vanya gripped the rim of the sink and bit back a sob as events of the past few days caught up with her. The funeral, Five, Mom, the shootout, Klaus being missing, Luther discovering she has powers, whatever the hell Leonard Peabody thought he was doing. And now, coming home after finding Five drunk to Diego bleeding out in the hall outside her apartment...

It almost sent her over the edge.

Almost.

She took a shuddering breath, then another and turned on the water.

The sink was turning a light shade of pink with Diego's blood and tears threatened to spill over. Vanya rubbed furiously at her eyes and dried her hands.

Patch, Allison and Luther were in the living room with Five cuddling the mannequin and snoring quietly on the couch. Allison was about to say something when a thud and curses came from the bedroom. With a deep sigh, Vanya turned back towards the closed door and opened to reveal her brother sprawled on the floor with the sweatpants twisted around his legs. Vanya sighed again, gaining the attention of the man on the floor.

"Sure you don't need help?" Asked Vanya,

"...yes." He muttered and she sighed again, damn her brother and his stubbornness.

"Alright. You have three options." Diego looked at her confused, "Either Patch, Allison or I help you. It's your choice." 

"I'm fine," He was struggling to untangle the pant legs, "You don't need to worry, I don't need your help!" A few seconds passed before Vanya sighed again and stepped forward, gripping Diego by the arm and tried to pull him up.

"The hell are you-" "I'm not taking no for an answer. And besides, we grew up with Klaus. You know I've seen worse than someone just in their boxers." They glared at each other and Diego floundered for a moment before sighing and grabbed her hand, allowing Vanya to help him back onto the bed.

It took a few minutes for him to be completely changed and he had sweat running down his face. Vanya grabbed his discarded clothes from the floor, fixed her brother with a stare, telling him to stay put and not bust his stitches before exiting the room.

"Everything alright?" Patch asked when Vanya entered the living room.

"He's stubborn and insisting on doing things himself. So I think he'll be okay." The women snorted, but Luther furrowed his brow.

"We should get him to The Academy, have Pogo take a look." The three shared a look and Five let out a snort from the couch, causing them all to look over.

"L'ther never had humor." He looked blearily at the four of them, "I drank the whole bottle, didn't I? Delores hated it, said it made me surly!" Five let out a hiccupping laugh while tracing the cheek of the mannequin before looking back at the others, "What're you talkin 'bout?"

"Our brother being shot by masked lunatics and not knowing what the hell happened to our other brother." Said Allison causing Five to look over at her with a puzzled look on his face.

"Masked lunatics?"

"The shot up The Academy, looking for you." Five sighed at Allison and said,

"Hazel and Cha-Cha." 

"Who?" Patch asked,

"The best of the best. Besides me of course." He gave another laugh as the others looked confused, "They're like, like, like nuclear bombs! But I, I am the four frickin horsemen! And the apocalypse is coming!" Five tried to stand up, and immediately flopped back down onto the couch as the others shared a look with each other. Allison sighed before gripping his shoulders and sitting him up right, looking Five dead in the eye.

"You, need to focus and tell us everything about them!" Their brother's response was a drunken smug smirk, "Five! They shot Diego! They kidnapped Klaus!" The smirk fell from his face and Vanya saw him concentrate on what Allison had said, but Luther spoke up before he could reply.

"Are we sure Klaus was taken?" They turned to look at him, "I mean, I'm not saying it's alright for him to have disappeared, but how do we know he hasn't, fallen into old habits?" Vanya felt her jaw drop as Allison glared and Patch began to look angry, but everyone was surprised when Five spoke up.

"No, he wouldn't do that." He murmured quietly, "After everything that's happened he wouldn't." 

"How the hell would you know? And what do you mean 'after everything that's happened'?" Luther questioned,

"When Vanya was hurt he got sober!" "Five-" Luther cut Allison off, "Why? It was eight months ago when, whatever, happened. Why would Klaus stay sober for that-" "Whatever? WHATEVER?!?!" A flash of blue and Five was in front of Luther and jabbing a finger into his chest.

"You think because dad said everything was fine, that it actually was?! It fucking wasn't Luther!" Both Eudora and Allison moved forward, trying to pull Five back, but he kept going, "Our little sister, the one we, YOU, promised to protect and look out for was fucking attacked in the worst fucking way!" 

"The worst way? What does that-" "It means rape Luther! Fucking RAPE!" It seemed to have caught up in Five's alcohol ridden mind what he had just said, and he squeezed his eyes shut before Allison grabbed him roughly by the shoulders and shoved him into the kitchen.

Vanya felt herself begin shake. Allison had mentioned Five had done a search with her name, but hadn't gotten the full story. She never considered that he would've... Eudora was looking at her with concern as Luther stared ahead in shock. She held up the tight bundle of Diego's clothes, motioning towards the door before rushing out. Vanya thought someone called after her, but couldn't be sure, everything sounded like she was underwater. 

The laundry room was small with only four different machines inside and located on the ground floor. Vanya never liked this room, it was small and cramped, with piles of dust sitting in the corner. Normally, she would go to the laundromat down the street, but that wasn't the best idea at the moment: masked lunatics and all. She hastily opened the washer, shoving her brother's clothes in (should she have done something about the blood?) and slammed it shut before fiddling with the settings.

"Need quarters?" Vanya turned and saw Patch standing in the doorway. She approached Vanya while fishing out her wallet and shook out a few quarters. Patch entered them in and pushed start, they stood silently as the washer rumbled to life. It wasn't until it had come to a complete stop and Vanya was loading the clothes into the dryer that Eudora asked,

"You alright?" When Vanya didn't answer, Patch continued to speak, "Allison is trying to do damage control with your brothers. Five was moping in the kitchen while Luther kept asking questions and Diego was trying to fight Luther. Despite the fact he was just shot and should be resting." She gave a small smile at that.

The sun was starting to peak out when the two woman began walking back up the stairs. They made it about halfway up when Patch held her arm out, stopping Vanya with a finger to her lips. Someone was ahead of them, with dried blood caked on their hands. Vanya cast a worried glance at Eudora, she knew the detective could take care of herself, but knew if it came down to a fight, Vanya would be more of a hindrance than help. Before the two could make some form of plan, the person tripped, falling onto the steps and just, laid there, crying. They watched as sobs wracked the person's body, it sounded familiar. Though Vanya couldn't be sure, it sounded like...

"Klaus?" No response, "Klaus is that you." She seemed to catch his attention and he slowly propped himself up, looking at the two.

It was Klaus.

A dirty, blood soaked, teary eyed Klaus. He stared for a moment before launching himself at Vanya, wrapping her in a tight embrace and began crying again. She shared a look with Eudora and the two began walking Klaus to the apartment. Vanya could feel her brother's tears soaking through her shirt and onto her skin, but paid no mind, her only concern being what had happened. 

Patch opened the door and stepped inside, she took the clothes Vanya was holding before asking were the first aid kit was. Allison and Diego were in the kitchen having a hushed discussion, though abruptly looked up in shock and horror at the sight of their brother. Luther was sitting in one of the chairs and immediately stood up and Five was looking at Klaus with a discerning stare, as if their brother was some equation for him to solve.

When Vanya managed to sit Klaus down on the couch she began checking him for injuries, terrified of what she would find, what would cause that much blood. Diego approached and sat next to Klaus, helping look over their brother, but they shared a confused glance at the lack of injuries. Ignoring the dried blood, Vanya gripped Klaus' hands, squeezing gently and trying to get him to look at her. He glanced up with an empty look in his eyes that almost sent Vanya to tears, but she needed to see were he was hurt.

"Where are you hurt?" He shook his head, "You're not hurt? Klaus, what about the blood?"

"It's not mine." He murmured. Vanya and Diego looked at each other before turning back to their brother, Klaus was staring at the ground again with a hand gripping something around his neck. Patch came up to them with the first aid kit and a puzzled look, she also couldn't see any injuries. They were all confused and silent until Allison took charge.

"We should probably get you cleaned up." She instructed Vanya to get the shower started and Patch to grab some towels from the closet. Luther pulled Five out of the way as he tried to approach Klaus while Diego and Allison lead him into the bathroom.

Vanya had the shower running when they entered and asked Klaus to test the water. He did and mumbled an it's fine. Allison lead her out of the bathroom so Diego could help their brother wash off and Patch handed him the towels before leaving the room. They sat in the living room, Five was sitting with his arm around the mannequin while dozing. Vanya sat on the other side of the couch with Allison while Eudora and Luther sat in the chairs on the other side of the room.

No one spoke, the only sound coming from the bathroom.

Everyone was tired. Luther had started to snore when there was a thud from the bathroom, causing them to jump. Allison raced to the bathroom as the water shut off and knocked on the door, asking if everything was alright. Diego opened the door, asking for her to find something Klaus could wear and get a glass of water. Patch got the water as Vanya told Allison to grab whatever she thought would fit Klaus from the bedroom before slipping into the bathroom.

Klaus was curled up on the floor of the shower, shuddering. Vanya grabbed the towel Diego was holding and began to dry Klaus off as best she could. Allison knocked on the door and handed Diego what she had found while Vanya pulled Klaus up as gently as she could and wrapped the towel around him so she wouldn't see more than what was necessary. Diego helped him into the pants Allison had found (an old pair of Diego's that he left there after Vanya got out of the hospital) and one of Vanya's hoodies from when she was in college before the two led him out of the bathroom. Their sister handed him a glass of water, making sure he took a few sips before wrapping him in a hug.

No one said anything about the way he clung onto Allison, his unusually quiet demeanor or the bloody footprints that trailed after him.

They could only stare and wonder, what the hell happened? 


	10. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The siblings try to put Klaus back together. (Though they're each breaking in their own way.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Death, blood, panic attack, flash back, torture

_'Dave? Dave!' Klaus shook Dave's shoulder before turning him over, revealing the bullet hole gushing blood in the center of his chest. Klaus placed a shaking hand on the wound, not fully wrapping his head around what was happening. It wasn't until he felt Dave's blood gush against his hand and heard the small gasps of pain coming from the man beneath him that Klaus was able to grasp the severity of the situation._

_"Nonononono! Medic! MEDIC!" He shouted over and over again. "Dave no! No! MEDIC!"_

_"Klaus?" Dave's quiet voice caused him to look down, blinking the tears out of his eyes, "Klaus..."_

_"Dave? Dave don't leave me please!"_

_"Klaus," He reached up, cupping his cheek, "Klaus you need to wake up." What?_

_"Dave, no! MEDIC! Dave I won't leave you!" But it was to late._

_Dave's hand fell away and his eyes glazed over. Klaus let out a wail, begging him to come back but became aware of the different voices closing in around him._

_"Wake up!"_

_"You're not there any more!"_

_"Klaus it's okay! You're safe!"_

_"You need to wake up!"_

_"Klaus-"_

_"Need to-"_

_"It's-"_

_"KlausKlausKlausKlausKlausKlausKlausKlausKlausKlausKlausKlaus-"_

_"WAKE UP!"_

He bolted upright, gripping the dog tags around his neck like a life line.

"Klaus?" He jerked his head towards the voice, coming face to face with Vanya. Her hands were hovering over his shoulder, unsure if it would be welcome. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Klaus slumped into Vanya's side and hid his face while tears stained his sister's shirt. Vanya's arms encircled him as he cried, the events from the night before running through his head.

Dave was gone. He was gone and Klaus wasn't able to save him.

"Klaus?" He glanced up at Vanya's concerned gaze, "Do you think you could get more sleep?" Klaus shook his head and felt Vanya sigh against him. A hand was gently running through his curls, and Klaus began to panic because it wasn't his sister's. Who the hell was in the room?! Klaus jerked his head around trying to catch a glimpse of who else was there and caught a glance of his knife-throwing brother sitting next to him.

Oh, that's right. He'd practically kept him, Vanya and Allison in an iron grip once the reality of Dave's death settled heavier in his mind. Klaus could vaguely remember Allison leading him into the bedroom as Vanya and Diego both limped after them. 

Wait, Vanya and Diego, were both limping? That couldn't... What?

He turned his head back towards Diego, looking him over while trying to see if his brother was injured in someway. Diego caught his gaze and shuffled closer, moving his hand down to Klaus' shoulder, giving it a squeeze. He then tried to sit up, but was stopped when Klaus noticed the grimace of pain that ran down his face. Klaus reached forward and began to pat down his brother, trying to discern what happened and how bad it was. Diego realized what he was trying to do and pulled up the jacket he was wearing to show Klaus the bandage on his side.

"It's not that bad. Bullet went straight through and Vanya patched me up." He caught Klaus' worried gaze and assured him, "I'm alright Klaus. I promise."

"He's right Klaus." He turned to look at a ghostly figure standing next to the bed, "Diego was standing when we entered the apartment and was able to walk without needing much assistance. So that means the bullet didn't hit anything important. He'll most likely be sore and will need to take it easy the next few days though." The woman gave him a soft smile, it was almost enough to distract him from the blood running down her face, staining the blue rims of her glasses.

Oh, Klaus had forgotten the Doc was here. Then again, it had been almost a year since he'd last seen her.

* * *

_"-shock and infection are what we should worry about the most."_

_"He needs to get out of here. Any ideas?"_

_"Nothing comes to mind at the moment. I'm still getting used to the whole 'being dead' thing."_

_"That's understandable, it can take a while to fully get used to it."_

_Klaus blearily opened his eyes at the sound of his brother's voice, becoming aware of the multiple burning pains that ran down his torso and the one on his hand. He focused on his hand and saw it had turned red and was starting to blister. There was some shuffling and one of the other ghosts knelt in front of him._

_"Klaus, can you look at me please?" He shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut, "Please, just for a few seconds. I want to see if you have a concussion." This one seemed different, and somewhat, familiar. Klaus squeezed his eyes tighter before slowly opening them and coming face to face with..._

_"Dr. Mason?" She gave him a tight smile before holding up a finger, telling him to follow it with his eyes._

_It took Klaus a moment to process what she said before he nodded. He followed it up, down and side to side before the raised voices of his captors come from the bathroom. There was a ghost by the bathroom who looked in before turning back and shook her head. Mason gave a sigh of relief,_

_"Thank you Zoya." The woman nodded and turned back to the bathroom, muttering in Russian._

_"They killed you?" Klaus whispered and the doctor turned back to him,_

_"Yes. Blunt force_ _trauma to the head. Not the best way to go, I would not recommend it." Klaus was studying her and saw the blood running down her forehead and matting her hair. "You have a possible minor concussion. Though my main concern at the are the burns, left untreated they could become infected."_

_There was some more shuffling, and Ben entered into his line of vision, his hand hovered over Klaus' injured one and his face was etched with concern and anger._

_"You need to get them out of here Klaus."_

_"How? How the hell would I do that? Ask nicely?" Ben gave him an unimpressed stare before the Russian ghost came walking up to them quickly and gesturing towards the bathroom as the two captors strolled out._

_Even though he couldn't see their faces, Klaus could tell they were pissed by the way they walked. The two stopped in front of him, blocking his view of Dr. Mason and his brother._

_"You ready to talk?" Pink asked,_

_"I already told you-" He was cut off with a slap to the face,_

_"You know something!"_

_"I'd tell her," Said Blue, "You'll only piss her off more if you don't." Klaus began to laugh; an idea had popped into his head._

_"The hell is so funny?" Pink snarled,_

_"I'd be more worried about the people you've pissed off!" They glanced at each other then back at him, "For example, Dr. Alexandria Mason. You killed her in her own home, late at night."_

_"That was October, 2018. You probably heard about that on the news." Blue objected,_

_"Blunt force trauma to the head. That was the cause of death, not the fire." He looked up them, "That wasn't in the news."_

_"How the hell-" "Shut up! That doesn't prove anything!" But Klaus wasn't listening, he turned his head towards the Russian lady and asked what her name was._

_"Zoya Popova."_

_"Lovely name," He turned back to them, "Don't forget Zoya Popova, Russian lady, has a limp. She's pissed at you too." Klaus began to feel the familiar well of power in the pit of his stomach and reached towards it while turning towards a different ghost who stepped forwards and told Klaus how they killed him, and then another and another._

_"The tow truck driver, you electrocuted him while asking about a kid in a doughnut shop. Then there's the lady you smothered, telling her not to bother praying." At this point, he had a steady enough grip on his powers that the blue outlines of the ghosts started to form and the captors took notice, "Or the man in the Alps you ran over with your car."_

_The deceased began to realize that the two could see them and began yelling, surging towards them as Ben and the Doctor turned towards Klaus, trying to get him out of the chair. Sadly, the small grip Klaus had, wasn't enough. The ghosts could be seen, but they weren't corporeal. Blue seemed to notice and reached forward in his panic at Klaus, grabbing two fingers from his injured hand..._

_And pulled them back with a loud_

_SNAP_

_Some of the ghosts flickered in and out of existence, and Pink noticed. She lunged forwards, punching Klaus right in the throat, again on the chest and again, and again and again and again and again-_

* * *

He was gasping.

He couldn't breathe.

Something was tight around his neck.

There was a light hand on his shoulder. He flinched back, waiting for the blow that would come.

It never did.

He wasn't in a chair he realized. He wasn't restrained.

Klaus peeked out from behind his arms and recognized his surroundings: Vanya's room. He turned his head and saw Ben sitting at the foot of the bed with Dr. Mason standing behind him. Both looked worried and the light touch from earlier gently brushed over his shoulder. Klaus looked over his shoulder and saw his smallest sister behind him, holding her arms open in an inviting gesture that he fell right into and began to cry again. Vanya began to run a hand through his hair and he felt a hand place it's self on his arm, giving him a gentle squeeze. _Diego,_ his mind supplied and Klaus reached around to grip his brother's hand.

There was some more shuffling and Klaus turned towards the noise. Allison was standing next to the bed and was changing the bandages on their brother. Klaus shifted closer to his brother, keeping his grip on Vanya while looking at the stitches in Diego's side. It wasn't red or inflamed, which was very good. He'd seem enough infected wounds on the front lines to know when a bullet wound was bad, and thank god Diego's wasn't. It didn't stop Klaus from wrapping his hand around Diego's wrist and checking for the steady thrum of his brother's pulse. Dr. Mason walked forward, looking over Allison's shoulder at the wound and nodded in approval before giving Klaus a reassuring smile.

Thudding footsteps approached the room and a timid knock on the door before Luther stuck his head in.

"Hey Vanya, uh... There's an old lady at the door, asking if everything's okay. She won't leave until she talks to you." Vanya sighed, gave Klaus' shoulder a squeeze before hopping of the bed and limping past their brother. Luther cast a glance back into the room before walking back out. Allison finished changing Diego's bandage and he began to move, sitting up with a groan.

"Okay, well." Started Mason, "That's probably not the best idea."

"Careful Diego!" Allison scolded and Klaus smirked.

"You've got two people yelling at you Diego." His brother looked at him confused,

"Two- Oh, Ben?"

"No, but he is giving you his 'I swear to god you're an idiot' look." Klaus replied, "The other person would be the good doctor." Allison was watching them confused as she packed up the first aid kit.

"The good... Mason?" Klaus nodded, "How's she been?"

"She's been good. Her and Ben are friends now." Diego nodded as Klaus curled into his side, still clutching his wrist and measuring his pulse. 

"Mason was, the doctor who looked after Vanya? In the hospital, right?" Allison asked,

"Yep," Answered Diego, "Died in a fire-" "Actually it was blunt force trauma." Interrupted Klaus and his siblings looked at him.

"Turns out those masked lunatics killed her and started the fire to cover it up."

"Why?" Diego asked, but Klaus only shrugged.

Allison put the last piece of equipment into the first aid kit when Vanya entered the room, and Five jumped in after her. It wasn't lost on Klaus the way Vanya tensed when he entered, but didn't think now was a good time to ask. Five just looked at him, causing Klaus to shift uncomfortably.

"Where'd you go? Or rather when?" He asked,

"Five." Vanya said sharply.

"You stole Hazel and Cha-Cha's briefcase didn't you? And you opened it. Where did you go?" Five was now standing next to the bed.

"What does a briefcase have to do with anything?" Allison questioned and Five rolled his eyes.

"Hazel and Cha-Cha are time travelers, but unlike me, can't jump through time by themselves. They need extra assistance which means-" "The briefcase, is a time machine?" "Exactly!" The others looked at each other then back to Five while Klaus shrunk further away.

"And Klaus obviously opened it! You must have noticed it. I noticed it and I was drunk! He was wearing army fatigues that were obviously not from the army in this time, maybe from-" "1968." Klaus whispered and Five nodded at him with a look of understanding passing through his eyes,

"Vietnam." He sighed before continuing, "Where's the briefcase Klaus?" He didn't reply, just shook his head before getting up and walked out of the room.

He didn't get very far because Five was in front of him.

"This is important Klaus! Where's the briefcase?" Klaus could tell his brother was getting frustrated, so he told him,

"Gone. Puff. Not here. Kinda smashed it a few times against the ground." He moved forward but was stopped when Five put a hand on his chest and pushed him back.

"You did what?!?!" Seethed Five, "You idiot! I needed that!" Klaus could hear his siblings walking up behind him, but what surprised him the most was the fact it was LUTHER who pulled Five away.

Their brother grabbed Five's collar and pulled him down the hall, ignoring Five's protest. He picked up the mannequin and shoved it in Five's arms before holding the smallest Hargreeves under his arm and opened the door.

"I'll take him back to The Academy, you should come by later so we can talk about everything." Luther's gaze seemed to linger on Vanya a little longer before he walked out and closed the door behind him.

Klaus just, slid to the floor, numb. And not the good kind. 

He felt himself being picked up off the floor and lead somewhere. Someone sat him down, resting his head on something while fingers began running through his hair. Klaus sighed, gripping the dog tags between his hands and tracing the name with his thumb. Tears sprung up as he read Dave's name over and over again.

"Klaus?" Ben was sitting on the table in front of him, "Who's Dave?" Klaus shook his head and began to cry.

He was gone.

Dave was gone. 


	11. Who's Dave?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The siblings have a conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Blood mention of murder and war.

It took about an hour, but Luther managed it. He'd managed to get his small, squirming brother back into the Academy without being stopped by anyone. After Luther shut the kitchen door behind him, he gripped Five by his shoulders and set him down. Five immediately wrenched himself away from Luther, casting him a withering glare before placing the mannequin down gently on one of the seats and started jumping around the kitchen, much like he did on his first day back. 

Luther sat at the table with a sigh, the chair creaking under his weight as he ran a hand down his face. He watched as Five slammed together one of those sugary sandwiches angerly and take fuming bites out of it. The two were enveloped in silence, the only sound being Five's angry chewing and the quiet mutters towards the mannequin. Why did Five keep carrying it around? Luther let out a sigh and began to rub circles on his temples, the events of the past 24 hours catching up to him.

With finding out about Vanya's powers, Klaus being kidnapped, Diego being shot, finding out Vanya being... and Klaus apparently time traveled. He was having trouble fully wrapping his head around the last two. Hell, the fact Klaus had been kidnapped and was able to escape on his own had Luther's head spinning. Though there was something else Five said that was nagging at him,

_'The apocalypse is coming!'_

What the hell did that mean? The apocalypse? Should he ask? He should ask. 

He didn't get a chance. 

The sound of high-heels clicking against the floor and someone gasping distracted Luther.

"Oh my goodness!" He turned and saw Grace standing in the doorway, "Luther, what happened to your coat?" Luther looked down, remembering how he had torn pieces of it the day before to make bandages for Diego.

Grace approached him and held out her hand, as Luther began to shed his outer layer. She was talking, but Luther wasn't hearing any of it. He could only think that the last time he saw her, she was slumped over with wires poking out of her neck. It wasn't until Pogo shuffled into the room that Luther understood what had happened: Pogo must've gotten her back online. Luther didn't know how to feel about that.

On one hand, Pogo could've fixed whatever the problem with Grace's hardware and brought her back online without issue. On the other hand, is it possible Pogo could've fixed her before Luther forcefully shut her down? 

"I'll see what I can do, find some way to fix it." Grace smiled up at him as he stammered out a quiet thanks before she turned out of the room. Five watched their interaction with a raised brow before finishing his sandwich, grabbed the mannequin and jumped out of the room, leaving Luther and Pogo alone. The silence was deafening as Luther stared at Pogo who shifted from foot to foot.

"Master Luther-" "You fixed her?" He paused, before nodding, "Could you have done that before I shut her down?" Pogo looked down and nodded again with a sigh. Luther sucked in a breath as he felt anger begin to boil in his gut, but bit his tongue and walked out of the kitchen, heading towards the phone. He punched in the number for Vanya's apartment, even if he didn't get an answer, he could leave a message for his siblings. They deserve to know Grace was up and functional. 

No answer. He called again.

No answer. Luther was starting to get worried as he dialed again. What if those masked people tracked them down to Vanya's apartment? What if his siblings were hurt? Were they okay? Are they-

"Hello?" Oh thank god.

"Allison? It's Luther." He heard her sigh,

"Luther, we... Were not coming to The Academy right now. Maybe not even today-" "That, that's okay, I uh... Just thought you should know, Pogo got Grace back online today." There wasn't a response.

"Are, are you still-" "Yeah I, I'm here. Mom's back? Pogo got her back?" The disbelief was evident in her voice,

"Yeah uh, I'm not sure if it was this morning or last night but she's up and walking again. I, I thought you would want to know." There was silence, then Luther could hear hushed voices on the other end before Allison spoke back into the phone,

"Give us about thirty minutes." And she hung up.

* * *

Allison turned back to her siblings. Diego was sitting in one of the chairs while Klaus had his head in Vanya's lap on the couch, he seemed unaware of what was going on around him but his eyes kept fixating on the empty space above the coffee table. Good, that must mean he's listening to Ben. She approached them, kneeling in front of Klaus and placed her hand lightly on his. He shuddered and looked over at her.

"Hey Klaus." She gave him a small smile, "We're going back to the Academy, Mom's back online." 

"Mom?" He whispered, making Allison's heart shatter. The few times Klaus had been this quiet was before he'd started on the harder drugs after he came back from individual training. 

The brother's explained to her the extent of the ghosts that Klaus sees during her first visit after the argument, how they're always there. That the only ghost Klaus has ever summoned was Ben. How they follow and scream at Klaus once they realize he can see them. Allison had spent that night holding Klaus close and ran her fingers through his hair in a hopefully comforting gesture as she thought back on all the times she had brushed Klaus off, thinking his reaction to individual training was just him being overdramatic. 

She shook herself from her thoughts and gave his hands a gentle squeeze and nodded. Klaus' eyes began to water as he squeezed her hand back. Allison smiled softly at him before standing back up and turning towards Diego. He'd pushed himself up and was shuffling towards them with a slight grimace on his face causing Allison to worry. He must have noticed her concern because Diego gave her a tight smile, which she guessed was supposed to be reassuring, before reaching for the bundle of clothes that Vanya had washed the night before and walked into the bathroom.

Allison sighed and looked back at Klaus, he was sitting up now with Vanya's hand on his shoulder. Klaus gave each of them a glance before walking into Vanya's bedroom and closed the door behind him, leaving the two (Patch had left earlier that morning, something about explaining a shoot out to her captain) sisters in the living room. Allison sighed again before taking Klaus' spot next to Vanya, who slumped further in the back of the couch and buried her face in her hands as Allison glanced around the room, stopping when she saw the violin resting against the window.

"Do you have rehearsal today?" She asked and Vanya sighed,

"Not until 11:30." Her sister replied. Allison nodded before turning to look at the clock on the wall,

"Uh, Vanya?" She hummed in response, "It's, it's 11:23..." 

"What?!" Vanya sprang up and began rummaging around her apartment, getting together what she needed for rehearsal.

"Do you need a ride?" Allison asked but Vanya shook her head,

"Your rental and Diego's car are back at the Academy and there's no time to wait for a taxi. The three of you can head over and I'll meet you after." Her sister hastily swung her violin over her shoulder before Allison wrapped her in a hug.

"Call us of you need anything. Alright?" She felt Vanya nod against her as she slipped out of Allison's grip and hurried out the door.

Diego emerged just as the door closed, dressed back in his signature vigilante outfit (minus the harness) and shot a confused look at Allison.

"She has rehearsal in like, six minutes," Explained Allison, "Vanya said she'll meet us at the Academy when she's done." Both cast a concerned glance at the front door, neither were to happy about letting her go alone. There thoughts were cut short when the door to the bedroom opened and Klaus stepped out.

He was still wearing Diego's sweatpants, but he had exchanged the hoodie for a graphic t-shirt with the army vest over it and the boots he was wearing when Vanya and Patch walked him into the apartment earlier that morning. Klaus glanced at both of them before looking back at the ground and shuffled forwards, stopping when Allison gripped his elbows and began looking him over. Her brother sighed as he rested his head against her shoulder. 

"Vanya has rehearsal, but she'll meet us at the Academy." Klaus nodded against her shoulder as Diego called a taxi.

Fifteen minutes later had Klaus curled between Allison and Diego in the back of a taxi, his hand tightly clutching their brother's wrist while Allison brushed through his curls with her hand. If the taxi driver recognized her, he thankfully didn't comment on the sight in the back of his cab and just drove them silently to their destination. 

The three (Four? Ben was with them? Or maybe five? Diego and Klaus mentioned a doctor that morning.) of them stood in the foyer and it felt, wrong, without Vanya there with them. Having her sister close by her side this past week had quickly become familiar and comforting for Allison, knowing Vanya was there. She shook her head and followed her brothers in their search for their Mother. 

It wasn't at all surprising that it was Diego who found her first. Mom was in the laundry room, humming and scrubbing what looked like blood out of Five's sweater vest. They stared for a moment before Diego stepped into the room with a quiet,

"Mom?" She spun around and flashed them a bright smile.

"Hello dears! Luther told me you would stop by." Her cheerful demeanor seemed to dim a small bit, "Is something wrong? I thought Vanya would be with you?" The only response Mom got was an armful of a sobbing Klaus. To Mom's credit, she just began to comfort him. 

She grabbed a clean blanket that was in one of the baskets and wrapped it around her son, then began to lead Klaus out of the room. She paused in the doorway, turned to Diego and Allison, and gestured for them to follow her. Mom lead them the their childhood bedrooms and walked into Klaus' room. She made Klaus lay down with his head in her lap as she pulled the blankets up to his chin and began to run her fingers through his hair as he cried into his skirt.

Diego wrapped an arm around Mom and Allison pulled out the desk chair for Ben. The two moved and sat squished together at the end of the bed, and began to lull off to sleep as their mother hummed to their brother. Neither of them had gotten much sleep the night before and the weariness of the day was beginning to settle in around them. Allison was semi-aware of Diego leaning against her as she closed her eyes.

Sleep overtook her, and Allison welcomed it.

It wasn't until she felt something kicking her that she woke back up.

Klaus was thrashing in his sleep and Mom was trying to calm him, trying to wake him up. Allison reached forwards, accidentally causing Diego to wake up, and gripped Klaus' shoulder, but immediately pulled away when she saw the familiar blue glow coming from his hands. Translucent figures began to fill the corners of the room, their screams echoing around them.

_'He killed me!'_

_'My child! I need to see my child!'_

_'I didn't do ANYTHING! Why the hell did the bastard shoot me?!?'_

Over and over, screams filled the room and growing in volume. Diego leapt up, crashing to the ground for a split second before moving to their brother and was shaking his shoulder while Allison just stared in surprise at the mass of ghosts that had appeared in the room. It wasn't until she saw the familiar outline of Ben step in front of her and begin to shove the dead horde back that Allison snapped out of her stupor. She rushed out of the room and into hers.

The bags Diego had packed were still in the corner and she rummaged through them until she came across her brother's Walkman. Allison hurried back out, stopping for a second at the sight of Five being screamed at in the hall by a crowd of ghosts. They were all demanding answers, asking why? Why them? What did they do? She ran back into Klaus' room, the screaming seemed louder as they swarmed towards her brother. Ben was attempting to push them back with the help of another ghost but seemed to have lost all patience, motioning her to step back. Allison rushed past Ben and watched as he ripped his jacket up, revealing the Horror.

Allison had rarely ever seen her brother unleash the Horror, knowing how much he hated it. Every time on missions, her, Diego and Five tried to take out as many criminals as they could so there wouldn't be a reason to for Ben to use his powers. Now, it seemed to be the only thing that would work to hold the dead back. Allison watched as the dead went flying through walls and out windows, the Horror flailing and Ben yelling.

There was a loud shout of someone's name and as abruptly as they came, all of the ghosts disappeared.

"Klaus dear, it's alright! It was just a nightmare." Allison turned and saw Klaus sitting straight up with Mom's arm around his shoulders. Diego was in front of their brother gripping his hands tightly and Klaus' eyes were bouncing at different empty spots of the room. Allison took a breath as she realized, Klaus could probably still hear and see the horde of ghosts in his room.

She quickly rushed forwards, situating the headphones on her brother's ears and pressed play. Klaus seemed to calm slightly and curled up into Mom's side, much like when they were children. Allison reached over to her brother's desk, grabbing a pen and paper, scribbled down a three worded message and held it in front of Klaus for him to read. His eyes snapped to the page and glanced over the words,

_Kitchen? Hot chocolate?_

He looked back at her and nodded. Mom smiled at them before walking out of the room and towards the kitchen as Allison and Diego helped their brother up. (It wasn't lost on Allison the way Diego grimaced in pain, but she would get on him about that when Klaus was okay.) Klaus squeezed his eyes shut, allowing them to fully lead him out into the hall. Five was still standing in the hall, white as a sheet, frozen in place as they past. Though, his footsteps followed after them down the hall. Luther had run up the stairs and was standing at the end of the corridor with horror on his face and questions stumbling out of his mouth, but he wisely shut up once he caught a glimpse of Klaus and began to follow them to the kitchen.

Klaus was sat down at the table between the two of them, eyes still closed and Mom was bustling around the kitchen making hot chocolate. It wasn't until there was a steaming cup in front of him that their brother dared to open his eyes and wrapped his hands around the cup. He gave Mom a quiet "Thank you" before looking back down. Their Mother smiled and turned to pour four more cups, placing two in front of Allison and Diego, slid one to Luther who had sat at the end of the table and placed the last one on the opposite side of Allison for Five who was standing in the doorway. 

No one spoke. 

Diego was the only one who seemed to act like he knew what to do. He pried one of Klaus' hands away from his mug and wrapped it around his wrist, pressing Klaus' fingers into the pulse point. It took Allison less than a second to realize what her brother was doing: reassurance. Reassurance that he was still alive, that it wasn't just the ghosts that surrounded Klaus. Allison was about to reach forward as well when there was a timid, but frantic, knock on the kitchen door. 

It seemed to knock Five out of his head because he jumped over and opened it, revealing Vanya on the other side. The two looked at each other, Five's outburst from the day before still obviously weighing heavy between them. Vanya stepped around Five and inside, catching sight of Klaus, noticing immediately that something was wrong. She placed her violin against the wall as Allison moved over slightly, giving her room to sit next to their brother. Vanya was small enough that Allison was able to keep a hand on her brother's shoulder as Vanya settled next to Klaus, cautiously brushing her hand against his.

The siblings sat in silence, their eyes slipping to their brother every so often. Grace had finished cleaning up and sat across from Klaus as he slowly pulled the headphones off his ears, taking tentative sips of the lukewarm drink in front of him.

"Any better darling?" Their Mother asked. Klaus looked up and nodded, causing her to give him one of her smiles as she reached out, cupping his cheek. He sighed, leaning into it with a few tears leaking from his eyes.

"Klaus, what the hell was that?" Allison shook her head at Luther, but he was undeterred, "You've had nightmares before but that's never... What the hell?" 

"He's sober Luther." They looked at Five, "Whatever his nightmare was about, it triggered his powers." He walked forward, grabbing the untouched hot chocolate Grace had set out for him and took a long swig, grimacing at the lukewarm temperature it had cooled to.

"Not that surprising, considering the time travel mixed with whatever Hazel and Cha-Cha did." Klaus shrank back at Five's words.

"But, he wasn't gone that long-" "For us it wasn't that long yes, but for Klaus... It was most likely longer." Luther looked at Five confused and Allison sighed,

"It's like when Five came back. It was seventeen years for us but forty-five years for him." She explained, "So with Klaus, it was a few hours for us but-" "Almost a year." Klaus gained the attention of his siblings with that broken whisper.

"A year-" Five shook his head, "You were in the Vietnam War for almost a year? You had a way out! What the hell possessed you to stay!?!" Klaus shrank further away, clutching at the dog tags around his neck so hard that his knuckles turned white.

"You found someone, didn't you?" He squeezed his eyes shut and nodded at Vanya's question.

"Whoever it was must've been a very special person," Diego started, "To put up with your weird ass shit." Mom scolded Diego for his language, but their brother let out a wet laugh as more tears ran down his face. Klaus looked down at the tags in his hand with his eyes lost in memories and said,

"His name was Dave. We soldiered together in the A Shau Valley in the Mountain of the Crouching Beast." He smiled slightly before continuing, "He was kind and strong and vulnerable, and, and beautiful."

"And, they just, let you fight in that?" Questioned Luther and Klaus let out another laugh, this one more manic and hysterical.

"LET me? War couldn't take enough bodies to please. Including his." It took a moment, but Allison was able to pinpoint when understanding washed through Luther's eyes. 

Their brother had fallen in love, only to have it ripped away from him.

"But, you're sober now. Right? Can't you just summon him? Like those ghosts from earlier?" Luther asked and Klaus shook his head, "Why not?"

"Because he didn't summon them," Five stated, "He just pulled them to our plain of existence." 

Klaus nodded, tucking himself into Diego's side with his grip tightening on the dog tags around his neck. Luther leaned forwards, about to ask something else, but was interrupted when their Mother stood up.

"I think that's enough questions for your brother. He seems exhausted and these past events are obviously weighing on him, let him get some more rest." She reached forwards, running a hand through his hair before heading towards the exit, but paused and walked towards Klaus, "And Klaus, if you are able to summon Dave, could you introduce me? I'd like to meet the man who made my son happy." Klaus nodded and said,

"I will Mom, I'd think he'd like to meet you too." She smiled at him, placing a kiss into his hair then turned to Five, 

"Oh and Five darling, I almost have your blazer and vest clean. Do you want me to leave them in your room when I'm done?"

"What?" Five asked, looking puzzled,

"Your vest and blazer. There was quiet a bit of blood on them and I almost have it washed out." They looked at Five, who seemed just as confused as them. His mouth opened and closed like a fish in a pet store before saying,

"I... Thank you, you can, put them in my room when your done..." Mom smiled at him before twirling out of the room as Five stared holes into the floor with contemplation. The silence was deafening. 

The fact that Mom was cleaning blood out of someone's clothes wasn't shocking in the slightest. The fact Five didn't seem to know were it came from or even remember that he had given the clothes to Mom was what had them all reeling.

"Five?" He looked at Allison, "Why, why is Mom washing blood out of your clothes?" They held their breath, hoping to get an answer.

"I, I have no idea." 


	12. Commission? Apocalypse? Handler?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explanations, ideas and problems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Panic attacks, fights, violence

After the revaluation of their Mother cleaning blood out of Five's clothes that he didn't even remember giving her, stating that (to the disgust of the others) he hadn't even changed since the funeral, the Hargreeves children settled around the bullet ridden couches in the main room. Klaus was practically sitting in Allison's lap, his head resting under her chin with her arms encircling him. His legs were sprawled across Vanya's lap, who was squished in-between Allison and Diego. Luther had awkwardly settled into the couch across from them while Five paced under his portrait.

He was currently running through equation after equation, possibility after possibility as to how Grace had gotten one of his uniforms. There was only one possibility that made a small semblance of sense: He had time-traveled again and there were currently two Five's running around in this moment in time.

That was a problem.

If dodging the Commission was hard enough, now there were two of him and the threat of Paradox Psychosis was something he had to deal with. Shit.

Five began going over the list of symptoms in his head, mentally crossing each one off. No itching, sweating, thirst, gas, paranoia (well, no more than usual) or homicidal rage. Good, the other him had enough sense to stay away in order to avoid the psychosis. But why? Why travel back to this day? What was so important that he came back with only four days before the impending apocalypse?

"Five?" He turned to Luther, "Want to fill us in on what the hell is going on?" The others nodded and stared, waiting for an explanation.

"Where should I start?" Five asked with a sigh,

"How about the masked psychopaths." Stated Allison, "Why the hell they came here looking for you! And why they took Klaus!" Five looked over, catching Klaus' gaze and nodded.

"Their names are Hazel and Cha-Cha, and no, I have no clue if those are their real names. They work for my former employer, a woman called The Handler. She sent them, to stop me." He sighed, "When they came to the house and couldn't find me, well, anyone else was fair game."

"Former employer?" Vanya questioned,

"The hell does that mean Five?" Asked Diego, "And if you say 'It's none of your business' I'll stab you." Five rolled his eyes and let out a sigh before saying,

"It's a long story. You remember I told you I had spent forty-five years in the apocalypse?" His siblings nodded, "Delores and I were talking with each other when I saw a woman, the first living person I'd seen since arriving in that wasteland. She offered me a job: Five years of service, then I retire to anytime and place of my choosing."

"What kind of job, Five?" He glanced at Klaus, remembering the faces of his victims that appeared seemingly out of nowhere and said,

"I'm sure you have some idea Klaus. Probably have for a while." His brother's only response was to glance at empty spots around Five before hiding his face in Allison's shoulder.

"Those, ghosts, in the hallway. The ones that were yelling at you," Allison started, "You-" "Killed them? Yeah, I did." He took a deep breath and sat on one of the chairs by the empty fireplace.

"The Handler works for an organization called the Temps Commission. They're job is to maintain the time continuum through manipulations and removals."

"And by removals, you mean you," Luther leaned forward, "Killed people? You had like a code though, right?" Five shook his head,

"No code. We just took out people who messed with the time line." His brother gazed at him with shock and horror on his face,

"But that's murder-" "Jesus Luther grow up." He stood back up, running a hand down his face, knowing that they were still waiting for the rest of the story, "I was biding my time, unbeknownst to the Commission. Going over different equations and editing them, trying to find the right one that would take me home. When I finally did, I broke my contract. Jumping through time and landing, well, here." 

He looked at the others, Klaus was still hiding his face while Allison looked ahead with a contemplating expression on her face. Luther and Diego were both staring at different parts of the room looking confused while Vanya looked equally disturbed and sick. Five sighed again and sat down. They wouldn't understand. He should've expected that.

"Why are they trying to stop you?" Five glanced up at Vanya, "You, you said that Hazel and Cha-Cha were sent to stop you. Stop you from doing, what?" He smirked sadly,

"You remember that apocalypse I mentioned earlier? I came back to try and stop it, The Commission believes that it has to happen." This time, Luther stood up,

"You didn't say anything when you got back. If you would've told us outright we-" "Could've banded together and try to stop it?" He nodded, "You already did." 

Five reached into his pocket, pulling out the eye he had been carrying around and handed it to Luther. 

"This was in your hand when I, found you. I found most of you, your bodies." He looked at the ground, trying to fend off the tears that threatened to spill over, "I looked, for all of you. Any clue as to where you were, if by some miracle any of you had survived." Five looked back up, his siblings staring in horror at what he was saying.

"It was a few weeks after I'd arrived that I found numbers one through four. I spent about a month in that area, searching for Vanya and Ben. I found Vanya's book in the rubble of the library, and that's how I realized that Ben was already gone. I never did find Vanya." Five had no idea why he was telling them all of this, but to actually talk about it, after all these years...

Luther was studying the eye, rolling it around his hand. He stopped at the serial number on the back and traced it with his finger.

"There's a serial number on the-" "It's a dead end, it wasn't even on the records at Meritech. And when I went back, the building went up in flames. It was the only lead I had." It wasn't lost on Five that Klaus tensed when he mentioned the fire, confirming the theory he had.

After learning that his brother had been taken by Hazel and Cha-Cha, Five began to suspect that Klaus had told them about the prosthetic building. He couldn't exactly be too upset, Five knew the different methods that The Commission used to extract information about targets. Five should be grateful they didn't have to have another funeral before the apocalypse even happened. 

Silence surrounded them, only broken by the occasional murmur from Klaus and the ticking from a clock somewhere in the house. Five had sat back down, running formulas through his head again. There had to be something he could do about the apocalypse but as he said before, his only lead went up in flames. Literally. There didn't seem to be any other avenue to explore. Unless...

His thoughts were interrupted by the shuffling footsteps of Pogo as he entered the room. The old chimp was leaning heavily on his cane with a file in one of his hands, looking exhausted and weary as he approached. Pogo paused, looking around the room at the siblings and asked,

"Am I interrupting?" He got a collective no from the siblings and continued, "I just wanted to give you the report you asked for Master Luther."

"Report?" Diego looked at their brother in confusion and a small angry glint in his eyes, "What report?" Pogo sighed as he held out the folder to their brother,

"Your father had a copy of the police report of Ms. Vanya's, incident, eight months ago." He explained, still holding it out to Luther. 

Everyone's gaze was bouncing from Pogo to Luther. What the hell was going on? Their brother took the file from Pogo who shuffled out of the room and set it face down on the table, sitting back on the couch, scooting away from the offending papers. Five gauged his brother's reaction, it was confused and panicked as if he had no clue why the file was sitting in front of him. But that couldn't be possible, Pogo said Luther had asked him for the report, so why was Luther acting as if he had... 

The liquor cabinet burst, the glass shattering across the floor. The glass cabinet holding their father's trophies and artifacts broke and there were tremors running through the room. Klaus shot up from were he was sitting against Allison, stumbling across the room and huddled into a corner with his hands over his ears. He was followed by Allison and Diego who immediately tried to calm him down, hoping to avoid what had happened earlier. Five's attention though, was fixated on his smallest sister.

Vanya was sitting rigidly on the couch with her gaze pinpointed on the file sitting on the table in front of her. It took Five less than a second to realize the chaos in the room was being caused by her. He slowly began to approach her, pausing for a moment when a white color began to bleed into the brown of her irises, but shook himself and sat in front of Vanya, trying to gain her attention from where ever it had wandered.

"Vanya?" He reached over, trying to grab her hand, "Vanya! Look at me!" His sister paid no mind as she dug into the bandages on her left hand. Five kept trying, he told her over and over again that she was in The Academy, that she was safe. Five began to grow frustrated that nothing was working until Luther yelled out,

"You need to stop! Klaus is getting scared by what you're doing!" To Five's surprise, that got her attention.

She seemed to realize that their siblings weren't on the couch with her, but at the other side of the room. Vanya took notice of Klaus' current condition and Five sighed in relief when her eyes began to turn back to their normal brown as the shaking and wind that had been whipping around the room began to go down. Diego looked over, relief evident on his face as he turned back to Klaus, continuing to calm him down. 

The thudding footsteps of Luther approached Vanya and he reached for her, stopping when she flinched back and Five batted his hand away. Vanya began to notice the destruction she'd wrought and let out a shuddering breath before standing unsteadily, running out of the room. Allison called after her, trying to stand up but was pulled back down by the tight grip Klaus had on her wrist. Five hissed at Luther not to move as he followed after Vanya.

His sister headed up to the hallway of bedrooms, slipping hastily into Allison's. Five stood in the doorway as she rummaged through the duffle bag that was shoved into a corner, pulling out a prescription bottle and quickly opened it, swallowing down four pills in one go. Vanya closed her eyes, sitting down with a small sob as she pocketed the bottle. Five took that as his que to enter, knocking on the door frame to gain her attention. She jumped, scrambling to stand on unsteady feet and wiped furiously at the tears that were spilling over.

"Allison and Diego are looking after Klaus, he should be fine." Vanya nodded, then looked away, "Four pills, seems like a lot-" "It's fine." He looked at her before moving to sit at the foot of Allison's bed, Vanya glancing at him wearily. "This has happened before, hasn't it?" She took a breath, then nodded again.

"It, it was about a month after... Klaus, Diego and I got into an argument about the book. I um, I tried stepping out when I felt my powers start to react." Five listened, Diego had mentioned this in passing outside of Griddy's, "Diego, he tried stopping me from leaving and then I..." Vanya looked back down to the floor, her hand fiddling with the pills in her pocket.

"Your powers reacted." Five stated,

"I threw them across the room. They were both quick to reassure me that they didn't get hurt but..." She trailed off, Five quietly said her name, prompting her to continue, "I couldn't see how Klaus reacted, but Diego, he looked scared, Five." 

Oh, _OH!_

Now Five may have left when they were young, but he knew how unnerving it was to see Number Two frightened. He could count on one hand how many times he'd seen Diego scared, and that wasn't even a full hand. Their brother had at a young age been able to hide most of his feelings under a mask of anger, so when Vanya said it had slipped at her accidental display of power, Five could only imagine what Vanya had felt that day. When Five looked back up, he saw Vanya shuffling past. He reached out and grabbed her bandaged hand, ignoring the way she flinched at the contact. 

"Take a breather Vanya, come back down when you're ready." She didn't look at him, but nodded.

Five released her from his grip before heading out of the room. He had something he needed to do and as much as he wanted to stay with Vanya, this took priority. Five headed into Reginald's office and began searching through it, grinning triumphantly when he came across one of his father's briefcase. After studying it, and deciding it looked close enough to the ones used in The Commission, Five opened and dumped its papers onto the ground. He grabbed a few paper weights from the desk, shoving them in, trying to make the weight somewhat similar then headed back to the main room. 

Klaus was curled up on the couch, biting at his nails with Diego standing next to him, glaring at the report on the table. Allison was sweeping up some of the shattered glass while Luther leaned against the wall, looking shell shocked. His sister noticed him first and asked,

"Is Vanya okay?" Five glanced over and shook his head before turning to Luther,

"Did you know dad had a copy of the police report?" His brother shook his head as Diego scoffed,

"Then why the hell was Pogo saying you asked for it-" "I don't know Diego!" Five stepped between the two, hoping to stop the fight before it happened.

"Stop! We don't have time for this!" Neither brother looked at him, "I have, a theory, but I can't explain it right now. Right now, I need to do something and I need Luther's help. You need to check on Vanya, Diego!" That got the knife thrower's attention.

"She took at _least_ four pills of her medication." The realization of what he said dawned on Diego and he ran out of the room.

When he had disappeared around the corner, Five opened the briefcase and shoved the report inside.

"What're you doing with that?" He looked up at Klaus then over to Allison and said,

"I'm going to burn it." 

Neither seemed to really believe him, but didn't stop him as he walked out of the room. Calling over his shoulder for Luther to follow him. Five grabbed the keys for Reginald's car, tossing them to Luther before heading out the door. The brothers hopped into the car, Luther asking where they were going and Five rattled out an address as he pulled the file out and began to read, ignoring the looks his brother gave him.

* * *

Klaus was currently following his deceased brother out of the house and down the street, away from the Academy. He wouldn't lie and say everything was a-okay, but when Diego rushed back downstairs, saying that he couldn't find Vanya, he needed to do something. His siblings began combing through the mansion when Ben told him he'd seen Vanya exit out the alleyway door. Klaus commanded Ben to show him were their sister went, wanting to avoid what had happened the last time she had a power outburst.

Ben had been hesitant, not wanting to leave without telling Allison or Diego, but Klaus insisted. To put his worry-wart of a brother at ease, Klaus put a note on the fridge so they wouldn't panic too much and Dr. Mason had said she would stay around the house in case something happened. The two brothers headed down familiar streets before Klaus caught sight of their sister crossing the road quickly, not realizing the two of them were quickly catching up.

They followed Vanya to her apartment building and watched as she paused, take out her prescription and swallow a few pills before walking inside. Vanya was still awaze ahead of them, and was starting to close her door when they got onto to the second floor. Ben ran forward and without thinking, put his hand out in the doors path and watched in shock as it stopped with a small thump.

"Huh, that's new..." Klaus murmured as Ben stared in shock at his hand while Vanya looked confused at her door. Klaus shook himself and walked forwards, catching his sisters attention.

"Hey Vanny, can we talk?" Vanya seemed hesitant and Klaus felt something break inside.

This was how she acted in the hospital after the incident: unwilling to talk and not making eye contact. 

So when Vanya nodded and opened the door wider for him to slip inside, Klaus almost cried in relief. 

Klaus held himself back from wrapping his small sister in his arms, figuring it wouldn't be welcome at the moment. Vanya closed the door and tensed, as if waiting for him to yell at her for what happened earlier. Ben got his attention and gestured towards the tea kettle sitting on the counter.

"Tea! Tea sounds like a good idea! Vanya tea?" She looked up confused, then nodded slowly. 

Vanya didn't move as Klaus bustled around the kitchen while Ben stared intently at a book on her coffee table. He reached forwards and gently ran his hand over the cover, then slowly flipped it open. He let out a quiet 'holy shit' and began turning the pages with excitement, catching the attention of his siblings. Vanya looked concerned while Klaus was shocked.

"Is, is that..." "Yeah." "I didn't know he could-" "Neither did I." Ben wasn't paying much attention, just reveling at the feeling of the paper between and under his fingers. Klaus approached and watched in awe as Ben flipped through the book when Vanya cleared her throat.

"I uh, I have one if his books that I took from The Academy. Does he..." She trailed off, motioning to where their brother was running his hands up and down the pages. Klaus nodded as she headed down the hall to her room while he sat across from his brother. Ben looked up at him with a bright smile then continued to mess with the book, opening it, closing it, flipping the pages and just touching the edges with an expression of awe on his face.

The happiness was short lived.

There was a loud thump and a sound of something falling that came from Vanya's room, catching them off guard. Ben and Klaus shared a glance before they stood up and headed towards the room at the end of the hall. The door was still open, displaying their sister's room and as they drew closer, their sister on the ground. Unconscious. Klaus rushed forwards, but was stopped when a fist hit him on the side of the face. 

The kettle was whistling in the kitchen.

Klaus fell to the floor and turned in time to block the foot that was coming towards his stomach. 

Ben rushed forwards with a yell and tackled the intruder, allowing Klaus to gather their sister in his arms and carry her out of the room.

He made it as far as the kitchen when the stranger broke free and knocked him and Vanya to the ground. 

Black spots began to flicker across Klaus' vision, but he barely made out the stranger slapping his sister across the face as she began to rouse and started to choke her. 

The kettle whistled louder.

Ben charged again and knocked the man off of Vanya as Klaus crawled forwards to her. Ben tried to further his attack, but a few punches went through due to Klaus' waning conscious. 

The man seemed to connect the dots and grabbed the kettle from the stove,

And swung it down across the back of Klaus' head.

Everything. Went. Black.

* * *

"Explain it to me, one more time." Five sighed in annoyance at his brother.

"The two of us time traveled, either to this morning or last night. I don't know why, but it would make sense." Luther continued to look down at his smallest brother,

"And that makes sense because..."

"Because, unless both of us had blackouts around the same time on the same day, I got nothing else. No other theories about why Grace was washing my uniform or Pogo said you asked for the police file about Vanya's case." Luther nodded, his brow furrowing. He wanted to ask more, but Five seemed to be annoyed with him. So he just stared ahead at the small fire that his brother had started with the report Pogo had given him that morning.

Luther sighed and began looking up and down the empty stretch of road around them before looking back at the briefcase in his hand. Would this work? It had to work. Right? He was snapped out of his thoughts when a car pulled up in front of them, two familiar masked faces staring out.

"You sure this will work?" He asked,

"It has to." Five replied before walking forwards.

Luther stood at attention, watching the interaction. He watched as the two pulled their masks off and tossed them aside and felt his anger boil. These _assholes_ had kidnapped and tortured Klaus. They were hunting Five as if he were some type of animal. Luther took a breath, he couldn't compromise this. Five was relying on him. He wouldn't screw this up. So he watched.

They seemed to come to some sort of agreement as the woman (Cha-Cha?) walked to the pay phone as her partner (Hazel?) relaxed his stance and Five walked back to him.

"Now what?" Five's only response was,

"Now we wait."

And that's what they did.

Until an ice cream truck driven by _Allison_ of all people sped past them, ramming into the car that the two assassins had been driving. The two began to shoot, causing Luther to pull Five behind him, and braced for the impact of the bullet. And then-

Five was standing three feet in front of him with some woman with bleach blond hair who was holding a briefcase at her side.

"Are you positive you want _this_ brother to come with you?" The woman asked, looking him up and down as Five smiled,

"We're a package deal. You can't take Five, without One." His brother's smile then turned sinister, "And didn't you say that _management_ wanted me to come and work for you?" She glanced between the two in disgust but said,

"The board won't be happy, but if he passes orientation and you vouch for him, they'll probably find some way to squeeze him in." The woman begrudgingly said, "And I mean that in a both figurative and literal sense. Now, do we have a deal?" Five nodded before turning to Luther and said,

"Throw the case and set the keys on the car." Luther looked at him confused, but chucked the briefcase a good twenty-five to thirty feet from them and dug the keys out of his pocket, placing it on the roof of the car. When he looked back, Five was taking both of the assassins' guns, emptying them of their ammo and tossing them aside.

"Are you both done?" The woman asked in a board tone.

"Yes we are." Five motioned for Luther to come next to them and he looked down at the woman who held her hand out, which his brother promptly took. She glance up at Luther with a raised brow and said,

"We don't have all day." He looked between the two in confusion before Five impatiently said,

"Put your hand on my shoulder Luther." 

"Oh, uh okay?" He reached out hesitantly, clapping his hand down on his brother's shoulder when he felt his feet leave the ground.

And then, they were gone. 


	13. Panicked Siblings and Stolen Vehicles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Allison got the ice cream truck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Death, injury, violence, blood.  
> This one has angst, maybe a bit to much angst.

"Klaus? You still in here?" Allison asked, rushing back into the main room.

The destruction from earlier was still littered around the room but now Mom had taken to cleaning up the shards of glass and Pogo was currently standing in the doorway with shock written all over his face. 

But there was no sign of Klaus. 

Pogo turned towards her, about to speak but Allison had already ran out of the room. 

"Klaus?!?" She called out, "Vanya?!?" No response from either. 

Allison began to panic, neither were here. Did those lunatics manage to sneak in and take them? Were they in an abandoned part of the house? Were they still here? Did they leave? Did they... Did they...

She was in the kitchen. No one was here. 

Allison was about to walk back out when something caught her eye: a napkin was stuck on the fridge. Why the hell... She peeled it of and sighed in relief at the familiar scrawled handwriting of her brother,

_Ben saw Vanya leave through kitchen door. Followed her out, most likely to apartment. Meet us there later._

_-Amazing Favorite Brother Klaus._

She couldn't help the laugh that escaped her mouth as relief flooded her. They were okay. Well, not completely, but they hadn't been kidnapped at least. Diego, she should probably tell Diego. Allison turned from the kitchen in search for her brother. 

Thankfully, it didn't take Allison too long to run into Diego. The panic on his face alleviated slightly when she showed him the hastily scrawled print on the napkin. The two siblings rushed out, ignoring the frantic call of Pogo that trailed after them, and headed towards Diego's car. 

"Hey!" Allison snatched the keys from her brother, "You're injured, I'm driving!" She hopped into the drivers seat, not giving him a chance to argue and started the car.

Diego took a huffing breath and begrudgingly opened the passenger side door, barely closing it before Allison sped off down the road. Her brother began mumbling about her driving as they took off, saying she better not crash his car. Allison rolled her eyes as she drove, keeping her focus on the road.

The air in the car was tense, the only sound coming from the passenger seat as Diego tossed on of his knives, flipping it in his hand. Neither spoke as they approached Vanya's apartment, noticing a crowd had gathered in front of the building. They shared a glance with each other as Allison parked across the street when they noticed it: The crowd outside their sister's apartment had police cars, officers and an ambulance gathered at the entrance. 

Allison exited the car swiftly, Diego following behind her with a slight grimace on his face, and began to search the crowd for the faces of her siblings. She scanned the mass of people, pushing past and through them, ignoring some of the looks shot their way. 

They came up empty.

No Vanya.

No Klaus.

Diego had shoved his way up to the police tape and was trying to get the attention of someone standing at the entrance of the building. An officer lifted the tape, allowing him and Allison through as a man with a badge around his neck approached them. Allison recognized him as Detective Patch's partner, if he was here, it couldn't be good. 

"Beaman, the hell's going on?" The man in question had a grim expression and ran a hand down his face.

"We got a call about a, disturbance. From your sister's apartment." The Hargreeves glanced at each other before turning back to the detective.

"Are they okay?" Questioned Allison as Beaman looked at her,

"They?"

"Our brother," Diego said, "Klaus would've been with Vanya." Beaman jerked his head up,

"'Would've been?' Are you positive about that?" They both nodded.

The detective rushed away, calling for another officer with the siblings trailing after him.

"Rodriguez! Rodriguez!" The officer turned, "We need an APB out, female, white, five-foot, brunette, name: Vanya Hargreeves. Do it now!" Allison felt her heart rate spike. She may not have been very familiar with police terms, but she could tell by the way Beaman was acting, and how Diego had gone pale, it wasn't good.

"Chuck?" Beaman turned back to them, "Why, are you putting an APB out for my sister?" The man looked down before motioning them off to the side, running a hand down his face again before he began to explain the situation.

"First responders arrived about twenty-five minutes ago. The rest of us got here about five minutes later. Diego, Allison, we didn't find Vanya."

"What about Klaus?" He let out a sigh,

"We, found him but- Diego!" Allison looked over, trying to see what had caught her brother's attention and her breath caught in her throat.

EMTs had just exited the building with a gurney between them. A gurney with a black, body bag on it. She could only watch as the EMTs stopped and Diego yanked the zipper back, revealing the pale face of Klaus.

Everything stopped.

Everything was underwater.

Was Allison breathing? 

She couldn't tell.

The only thing Allison could focus on was what she could see of her brother. 

Blood had dried on the side of his face, clumped up in his hair and across his forehead. 

Klaus' eyes were still open, so Allison could see how, lifeless, they were. The spark her brother had was gone, and it wasn't coming back.

* * *

The hustle of the afternoon rush hadn't even finished when Agnes placed two coffees in front of the unusually quiet siblings. Neither looked good. Diego gripped his drink tightly in one hand and had an arm around his sister who just stared blankly out the window by their booth. As much as she wanted to ask what was wrong, Agnes could tell they needed some time to themselves. So, she just gave them her best smile and moved back behind the counter.

She was in the middle of refilling the coffee pot when someone cleared their throat behind her, causing Agnes to turn and see an extremely welcome sight. 

"Long time not see!" Hazel smiled as he sat at the counter,

"Busy day today huh?" He asked,

"Thursday specials, cream filleds are half off. We have to sell them all or they'll be hard as hockey-pucks by midnight." They shared a chuckle as Agnes clicked her pen, "So, what can I getcha?" 

Hazel sighed in contemplation and said, "That's a good question. Glazed: reliable, simple. Chocolate: rich and sensual. Cherry filled: Big upside, but greatest potential for disappointment." Agnes watched him worriedly, something was bothering him.

"I don't know. I think I'll just, sit here and think about it." He said, sounding defeated.

Today didn't seem to be a good day for anyone.

"Well," She started, "You better hurry. I'm about to go on my lunch break." Hazel looked up at her with a smile,

"I could eat."

Agnes asked him to give her a moment so that she could do one more round before they headed outside. He smiled again and nodded. So, with a full pot of coffee, Agnes began to walk through the customers again. In all honesty, she didn't need to, but Agnes wanted to check on the Hargreeves before going on break. 

The coffee that had been brought earlier sat untouched in front of them. The only change was that Allison had her head on Diego's shoulder with tears falling down her face while her brother let her cry into his shirt. Agnes could see the unshed tears threatening to spill over from were she was standing, causing her steps to falter. She was unsure if leaving them alone would be best, but felt that someone should check on them. 

"Hey guys," Diego sucked in a breath and wiped at his eyes before turning to her, "I just wanted to see if there was anything else I could get you."

"N-no-no we're-" He stopped and cleared his throat, "We're fine right now." 

"Alright well, I'm about to go on lunch break. But, feel free to bother me if you need to." She gave them another smile, noticing that Allison wasn't leaning against her brother anymore. She was instead looking over at the counter with an expression of scrutiny.

"Agnes? The guy who keeps looking over here, the one in the blue suit? Who is that?" Agnes turned, catching Hazel's eye, causing him to smile.

"Oh, that's Hazel. He's a new customer. Started coming in earlier this week, he's harmless don't worry." She looked back at the siblings and realized that they were both looking Hazel over, as if they were, sizing him up? Before Agnes could ask, they looked back at her and Diego said,

"We'll take your word for it." It was not lost on her when an angry glint appeared in his eyes, but it was gone as soon as it came. 

Agnes just smiled back at them before turning to the counter, glancing at Hazel. His eyes were glued straight ahead, as if the stain on the wall Agnes had never been able to get out was the most interesting thing in the world. As odd as it seemed, Agnes decided she didn't know enough about the situation to make a full judgement. So, she set the pot down, grabbed her coat and lunch, and lead Hazel out the backdoor so they could sit on the bench.

* * *

The after-life seemed to become slightly more interesting since Mason began following (haunting?) the Hargreeves. At the moment, she was sitting in the back seat of the beat up car that Diego drove outside of Griddy's, waiting for one of her killers to pull out of the parking lot. 

Allison was in the driver's seat again, gripping it hard enough to turn her knuckles white while Diego strapped the ugly monstrosity of a harness across his chest. Both had barely said a word after leaving the apartment building. Something that worried the dead doctor, was the fact that Ben hadn't been hanging around the scene. He most likely followed Klaus, but if neither were at the scene, then where were they? Were was Vanya? 

She was pulled out of her thoughts as the car lurched onto the street, following the man as he drove (the waitress had called him Hazel.) It was unnerving, the methodical way Allison maneuvered the car through the traffic. Also the way Diego flipped the knife in his hand. Both had a look of determination mixed with hatred on their face. Mason soon realized the Hargreeves were out for blood.

They stalked Hazel as he drove, stopping when he did, switching lanes at the same time as him. But there were always a few cars between them. They were almost caught one time: Hazel had stopped unexpectedly outside of the Argyle Library to pick up a woman.

If Mason's heart were still beating, it would've stopped then. The woman was his partner, and the one who dealt the fatal blow to the top of her skull. The doctor felt anger boil in her gut, she hoped the Hargreeves would be successful in what they were going to do. 

The old car was parked behind an ice-cream truck in a motel parking lot and Diego began to dig around in an old duffel bag that had been sitting in the back seat.

"What're you doing?" His sister asked.

"Insurance" He stated, pulling out a device and showing it to her, "In case they get away." Diego opened his door quickly and got out, crouching low to the ground as he went.

"That's going to rip your stitches." Commented Mason. Allison seemed to have the same thought if the 'oh god' she muttered was anything to go by.

Diego came back, checking the device with a triumphant grin and looked up at his sister. He noticed the way she was looking at him and said,

"What?"

"You have a tracker, in your car?" She held up a hand, cutting him off, "You know what? I don't- never mind. What's the plan?"

"Get in. Kill them. Get out." Diego stated, sliding some of his knives out of their holsters. He handed one to Allison who took it without question. The siblings shared one last glance before they got out of the car, unknowingly being followed by an astonished ghost.

"You're both going to die. Or, best case scenario, get arrested." Mason sighed as she stepped out of the car, "All you Hargreeves are bull-headed idiots!" 

The door the murderers had entered opened when the group made it to the staircase and Hazel stepped out, holding an ice bucket in his hands. The man glanced around with a sigh before heading towards the ice machine located down the hall. Diego and Allison reached the top landing of the stairs, peaking at the closed door.

"Which one do you want?" 

"I'll take the bitch in the room; you can have the guy." Diego looked down at his sister as she stared intently at the door and nodded.

"Alright then, don't die." The doctor watched as they both moved forwards and-

And immediately hit the floor as the sound of bullets being fired filled the air. Both crawled over to the cover provided by the stairs as the murderous duo drove past them and down the road. Both siblings checked each other quickly before running down the stairs towards the beat up thing Diego called a car, only to discover the tires had been slashed. Diego let out a yell of rage and kicked one of the tires as Allison glanced around, looking thoughtful at the ice-cream truck parked in front of them.

"No, Allison! I have a feeling discretion is needed and an ice-cream truck is not discrete at all!" The woman ran ahead as if she hadn't heard (well, seeing as Allison can't speak to the dead she obviously hadn't heard) as single word that came out of Mason's mouth. She made quick work of the wires and the engine rumbled as Diego scrambled in with a look of disgust on his face, but he wisely stayed quiet at his sister's glare.

The three were soon taking off down the road with Diego calling out directions as Allison drove. Mason was sitting on the dash, gazing out on the road, keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of the duo. They drove for a good while, outside the city limits when she saw it: the two parked and standing outside their car with the other two Hargreeves brothers standing diagonal of them. 

"GO FASTER!" Diego yelled,

"THIS IS A BAD IDEA!" Mason screamed and Allison floored the gas petal, ducking as Hazel and Cha-Cha shot at them. 

The bullets stopped as Allison rammed into the assassin's car and the siblings tumbled out with Mason exiting after them. Hazel scrambled for his gun and aimed. Nothing. He looked in distress as he realized that his gun was empty.

"Luther? Five?" Allison called out. A look around showed neither in sight. 

Weren't they just here?

Diego charged at Hazel, hitting him in the face over and over again. Allison began to stalk towards the woman who was kneeling next to a, briefcase? But was stopped when she heard Diego cry out in pain. Hazel had gotten the upper hand and managed to pinpoint Diego's weak spot; his bullet wound. 

Allison wasted no time and rushed over, kicking the man in the larynx, causing him to stumble back and choke. Diego stood up with his sister's help and allowed her to pull him towards the parked car, clutching his side. Mason could make out a red liquid that spilled over his fingers.

He grabbed the keys that had been sitting on the roof of the car, handing them to Allison as he slid into the back seat with a grunt.

"Hurry up! We need to go!" Mason exclaimed as Allison started the vehicle and took off. They could faintly hear the woman screaming at the car as they drove off.

It took to long to get back to the city, Mason's opinion. From were she was sitting, she could tell Diego was only half-heartedly pressing down on his wound. Allison pulled into an alley next to a boxing ring and shut the car off. The siblings stumbled inside as Mason followed behind, confused. Why didn't they go back to the mansion? Was there someone here who could help them? It wasn't until they entered the boiler room that she realized, this was were Diego most likely lived. The room was, quant, to say the least, but seemed comfortable. A look around the room showed he wasn't the only one who lived here, Klaus seemed to have had added his loud personality to the small space.

Mason shook her head, watching as Allison patched her brother up. The stitches of the entry wound had broken and bruises from Hazel had begun to form. Neither sibling spoke as Allison wiped as the blood with shaking hands. The days events seemed to be catching up to both of them.

"We need to find Vanya." Whispered Diego.

"We will." Allison said, causing her brother to look up at her,

"How?"

"It doesn't matter how. We will find her." Allison paused, hands shaking as she threaded the needle, "We have to find her, Diego." Her brother seemed to understand the unspoken words she wasn't saying. He reached out, grasped her hand and said with determination,

"We're not losing anyone else."

Half way across town in the coroner's office, someone began to scream. 


	14. The Commission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The misadventures of Five and Luther.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Death, violence

Nothing had changed since the last time Five had been at the Commission, everything looked the same. Not that surprising, the Commission higher ups were sticklers for order, and change brought nothing but chaos when it came to the timeline. What did surprise him was the fact The Handler lead him and his brother straight to her office, silently. Normally she would use any opportunity she got to talk, whether speaking the company line or spouting some nonsense that sometimes made Five wish he had stayed in the apocalypse. But, it was what he was used to. The Handler being silent, was not. It was obvious she was upset about having to bring Luther along. 

She paid no mind to the glances and whispers that followed them through the halls as they passed. The Handler opened the door to her office and whisked inside, motioning the brother's to sit in the chairs situated in front of her desk as she pressed the buzzer for her secretary.

"Carla? Come in here." The door opened and a woman stepped inside.

"Yes?"

"Send a message to AJ Carmichael for me? Tell him it regards to the re-employment of Number Five and it's urgent we speak. That will be all." The Handler dismissed her with a wave of her hand and reached for a cigarette.

The room was silent as they waited, the only sound coming from the lighter being used. Five was taking in the sight of the room, he'd never been inside the office of The Handler before, as Luther sat uncomfortably next to him and shifted his gaze between the two of them. After taking a few puffs of her cigarette and eyeing the two up and down, The Handler turned towards Luther and asked,

"How much has Five told you?" Luther looked at her in confusion, "About what we do here. What has he told you?"

"He uh," Luther paused, glancing at Five, "He told me you monitor the time line. And, that you, remove, threats that disrupt it." The Handler raised a brow.

"An over simplification, but yes. We here at The Commission work to maintain an extremely delicate balance between the time line or events and man-kinds free will. This building is comprised of our analysists who, study the time line and receive reports from agents on the ground if someone decided to choose the wrong path. Altering the time line. The field reports are handed off to a case manager who decides if someone needs to be," She shoved the cigarette down on the ashtray, "removed, from the equation."

"And by remove, you mean kill." Luther said and the woman shrugged,

"Don't tell me you get squeamish at the sight of blood! I figured with the destruction Number Six caused on missions you would be used to it." Five took in a sharp breath as Luther leaned forwards,

"And how the hell do you know about any of that?" 

"Because you and your siblings were quite the anomaly." Five turned in his chair, noticing that someone else had entered the room, "When you were born, we had to make sure no major events would be changed." 

His brother stared in shock at the person closing the door, then again, it was a normal reaction when seeing Carmichael for the first time. The Handler stood to greet him, shaking the talking fish's humanoid hand before turning back to the brothers.

"Number Five, you've met AJ before, haven't you?"

"We've never been formally introduced." Stated Five as he stood up. Carmichael stared down at him from the fishbowl with, more intensity than an aquatic animal should have, and held out his hand. Five took it, giving it a firm shake before stepping back and motioned to his brother.

"This is my brother Luther." The fish held out his hand, prompting Luther to stand up and shake it,

"Number One of The Umbrella Academy, yes I know about you. The main question is, why bring him along?" AJ questioned as both he, Luther and The Handler turned back to Five.

"I'll admit," Five started, "That Luther isn't the brightest of my siblings, but he does have other strengths that can be of use to The Commission. Maybe not as an analyst or a case manager, but more for out in the field." The Handler looked at him, taking a step forward,

"That's all you brought him for? Because you thought your dimwit brother could be a good field agent?" She asked with a slight smirk.

"No I left Diego at home. I brought Luther because as Carmichael said: he's the Umbrella Academy's Number One." Luther was looking at him puzzled while Carmichael, he couldn't discern the fish's reaction because well, he's a damn fish. Five shook his head with a sigh and motioned for the others to sit back down as he stood next to The Handler's desk. He took a second, running a hand down his face before explaining.

"You want me to work here, and I want my family to survive the apocalypse. When I accepted the offer, The Handler said it could be looked into. Now, I obviously don't fully trust either of you and you most likely don't fully trust me. There maybe, a middle ground."

"Go on." Said the fish with a wave of his hand.

"In order for my siblings to live through the upcoming disaster, you would need to move them to another point in the timeline and monitor them carefully so they don't disrupt the time they are in. But, if they were to work here, under The Commission, they would survive, and you would be able to keep a closer eye on them." Both The Handler and Carmichael shared a look while Luther gaped at Five.

"And why," The Handler started, "Should we agree to employ your siblings?"

"With their abilities, they would be more suited for field work and since I'm here in management, we would have little to no time to see each other. So you wouldn't have to worry about us making plans. Also, I, know if I step out of line, even just a small bit," He looked down, "Well, you told me that many accidents sometimes happen on missions."

You could've heard a pin drop. Five's words seemed to have fully registered in Luther's mind because he was staring at him with a look of horror while The Handler and Carmichael had a silent conversation. After about a minute, The Handler asked,

"How would you convince the other siblings to cooperate?"

"Oh, I won't be the one convincing them. That would be Luther." Five said causing his brother to sputter,

"Wait, Five-" "And how would he convince them?" Carmichael asked,

"My siblings may not get along and argue most of the time, they most likely won't accept the offer right off the bat. And since I've been gone for most of their lives, they most likely won't listen to me. But, if they see that _Luther_ , of all people, working for you, they may agree." Five paused, "My brother has a very straight moral compass. When I told him and the others what I did as a temporal assassin, he voiced his disappointment about the removal of innocent people. But if our siblings were to see him working for you-"

"They would see that employment here, as their only option." Finished Carmichael.

"Exactly."

Both of The Commission higher ups looked thoughtful and Five held his breath. He hoped this worked.

"Number Five, I believe arrangements can be made for your siblings to join us at the commission." Carmichael said, causing Five to sigh in relief.

"Thank you-" "If and only if your brother goes through orientation and passes the ninety-day probationary period. And during that time, you show us that you are willing to work here. You _must_ convince us Number Five, that we did not make a mistake in trusting you again." Five nodded, shaking the Shubunkin's hand as he stood up.

"Well, I see that everything is in order. Five, the two of us will drop your brother off at orientation, then we'll head over to your new desk." The woman said, "AJ, lovely seeing you again." She gave him a sickly-sweet smile as he headed out the door. 

The Handler motioned for the two Hargreeves to follow her as she led them to the orientation room. Five could tell Luther wanted to say something, but knew that if he did, the whole plan would go up in flames. He had to get a message to his brother but knew it would be close to impossible. It wasn't until someone nervously approached The Handler, asking her to look something over that Five got an idea, he just hoped Luther remembered morse code. With the blond woman distracted, Five shifted slightly so that he was closer to his brother, crossed his arms and extended a finger, tapping it against Luther's arm.

P-L-A-Y-A-L-O-N-G

He heard Luther take in a sharp breath, then felt an answer tapped against his elbow.

O-K

"Well, come along boys. We don't have all day." The Handler chided, motioning them along, "Now Luther, orientation lasts for an hour, but after that we will need to put you through a series of tests to see were you would fit best. Normally when we recruit someone, we already have an idea of where to place them. But since your recruitment was, a bit unexpected, we still need to make a decision about what department you will be working in." 

They entered a room where a projector was being set up and a group of people were getting seated. Five grabbed one of the handbooks flipping through it's pages as The Handler walked over to the person in charge of overseeing the orientation. The two spoke in hushed voices as Five approached his brother. Luther looked down at him, wariness written all over his face as he took the book Five handed to him.

"I hope you know what you're doing." The Handler sauntered back over,

"Everything's in order. Five you can meet up with your brother later, lets go." With one last look to his brother, Five followed her out.

Five was led through a series of halls towards the case manager floor. They past a room of tubes, showing an elderly woman shakily putting a message into a tube, closing it and the sound of it being sent off followed. He hurried to catch up with The Handler.

"I see the pneumatic tubes caught your eye. After a case manager decides what action needs to be taken then the instructions are sent to a temporal assassin, what you used to be. Now, are there any question?" He thought over it then said,

"Just one; who was the case manager in charge of me?" She smiled down at him and led him into a room, stopping in front of one of the workers typing furiously on her typewriter.

"Five, meet Dot." 

"Oh, hello!" Dot smiled up at them,

"Dot here is responsible for all apocalypse matters. She was also the one who flagged your appearance in 2019." Five gave her a stare, and Dot seemed to realize that it wasn't a friendly introduction,

"No hard feelings?" Five didn't say anything.

"You really put us through the ringer, out smarting our supposedly best temporal assassins. If that doesn't spell LEADERSHIP..." She said it loud enough to gain the attention of the entire room, "I don't know what does." The Handler smiled at him, motioned to his desk, then walked out of the room.

Five sat down, opening the file in front of him. The Hindenburg. This should be interesting. He read through the file, taking notes before pulling out a piece of paper and began to enter it into the typewriter and began his task.

"Hiya Five. How's it going?" Dear god, it hasn't even been ten minutes.

"I must have utter silence to complete this task."

"Oh okay." He heard Dot lean back, then lean back forwards, "Hey a few of us are having lunch, I was wondering if you would like to join us?" Five paid no attention to her, instead standing up and walking out of the room.

* * *

Luther was trudging down the hall he had been told leads to the cafeteria. He had just finished his last, test, and was currently being sorted into whatever department they felt he would fit into. That was not what he wanted to happen, he'd hoped Five would have been able to find out what he wanted and would've gotten them out of here by now. But no, they were still here. Maybe Five had given up on stopping the apocalypse. Maybe what he said in the office was the truth and not some way to give them both an in. 

No, Luther couldn't think like that. He sighed and continued walking, stopping only when he heard someone calling his name. He turned and saw his brother approaching him at a fast pace. 

"Five." He stopped in front of Luther, getting a good look at his face.

"What's... they had you kill someone. Didn't they?" Luther nodded. Five grabbed his arm, leading him down a side hallway with little to no foot traffic in it, guiding Luther over to one of the benches that were pushed against the wall and sat him down. Five ran a hand down his face.

"I'm sorry Luther. I thought they wouldn't consider you for assassin work-" "They apparently are Five!" His brother glared at him and Luther let out an angry huff,

"Just... just _tell_ me, what you said in her office was a lie Five. That you don't want us working here. That this isn't our only option left." Five sat next to him, pulled out the glass eye and said,

"It's not. I spent forty-five years in that hell hole. there's no way I'm just going to let it happen. But I had to say something in order to let you stay." His brother sighed, "I thought they would do an endurance test, see how well you would do in a fight. It's what I had to do."

Luther stared at his brother, "What you had to do?" 

"Yeah. They already knew I had good survival skills, but they wanted to see how I would hold up against someone else. Temporal Assassin or not, field agents need to know how to defend themselves in the field. The kill test, is the final test for those considered for an assassin. See how we follow orders." Five sighed again, pocketed the eye and stood up. "C'mon, we gotta go."

"Where?"

"We've been invited to lunch with The Handler." 

Five walked back to The Handler's office with Luther on his heels. They approached the office just as someone pulled out with an empty food cart and The Handler stood in the doorway, beckoning the brothers into the room. She began talking immediately, but Luther heard none of the conversation as he picked at the food he'd been given. All he could think about was the man they had him murder just ten minutes ago.

_The man had been in an empty room with nothing but a chair and a two-way mirror. Luther had been standing on the other side of the glass with an employee and a table of weapons, looking in as the man paced from one side of the room to the other._

_"Kill him." Luther jerked his head towards the employee in the room with him._

_"What?"_

_"Kill him." The employee said in a bored tone. He turned and looked at the man in the room. He was sitting in the chair, staring straight ahead at the glass, as if he could see them on the other side._

_"If I don't?" He asked, causing the woman to sigh._

_"We drop you back where we found you. Though, I would suggest you go through with it." Luther cocked his head, "Apparently Carmichael pulled some strings at The Handler's suggestion for getting this guy here." He gazed back into the room, the man was pacing again, this time heading towards the camera situated in the corner of the room._

_"Why?" The woman shrugged at his question,_

_"That's above my pay grade. What isn't is that I know what happens to people who piss off The Handler. Hell, almost everyone knows." She turned back to Luther, "So I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, she obviously thinks that letting you kill this guy will get you to trust her."_

_"But, I don't even know who he is-" "Listen, I don't know who he is either. No one tells me who gets brought into that room and I don't ask. So just do us both a favor, pick a gun and kill him. I don't want to miss my lunch break because you can't stomach this line of work!" Luther clenched his jaw then glanced back into the room, then at the table and stepped forwards._

_Five has a plan._

_He picked up a gun._

_Five has a plan._

_He walked towards the door._

_Five has a plan._

_The door opened._

_Five has a plan._

_The man took a step towards him._

_Five. Has. A. PLAN_

_BANG_

"Luther!" He shook himself, looking up from his plate.

"I'm sorry what?" Five looked at him annoyed as The Handler gazed at him with indifference.

"I asked how the last test went for you." She said, slurping from the cup in front of her, "Figured there was some satisfaction from it." He frowned, glancing at Five before answering,

"I normally don't take satisfaction from killing anyone. But I know if I'm going to work here, it's something I have to get used to." Luther turned his gaze back to the woman in front of him, who was looking like he just told her that water was dry and unicorns existed.

"Well, yes. But I figured his death would've given you some satisfaction!"

"But, I... Don't even know who he was." He answered, causing The Handler to lean forwards in her seat.

"You didn't know who he was?" She questioned and Luther shook his head,

"No. Was, was I supposed to? Who was he?" The Handler stared at him thoughtfully and asked.

"Tell me, does the name Jerome Anders, mean anything to you?" Five took a sharp intake of breath and Luther shook his head.

The Handler was about to continue when a knock sounded at the door and a harried looking woman stepped inside. She fidgeted at the entrance and was holding a red manila folder in her hands.

"I'm very sorry to interrupt, but, may I have a moment alone?" The Handler gave her a hard stare but eventually nodded before turning back to the brothers,

"Duty calls. We'll talk more later." She gave them a smile as Five responded,

"Of course and," He motioned to the bowl of candy she had sitting on her desk. "May I?"

She nodded, prompting Five to take a handful before he headed out the door, Luther trailing after him. 

Who the hell was Jerome Anders? Why the hell was Luther supposed to know who he was? It was obvious that Five knew, or at least had an idea, but he wasn't offering any explanations at the moment. His brother was leading him down to a different hall and shoved Luther into an empty room. He tried to question what they were doing, but Five's glare made him wisely shut his mouth. They waited, Five peering through the crack of the door until the woman who had interrupted there lunch came hurrying out of the office. 

Five motioned for him to follow and slowly opened the door. The brothers followed the woman down to a different level, stopping when she entered a room. Five gripped Luther's arm, and jumped. Landing them into an office. It was small and spinning slightly (Probably because Five had just pulled him through space) and led into a room with multiple tubes running through it. He could hear part of a conversation.

"-knows Five is up to something! Get this to Hazel and Cha-Cha immediately!" He watched as the person they followed gave a slip of paper to an elderly woman who nodded and turned towards the tubes.

As the one they followed exited the room in a rush, Five jumped again, hitting the old woman on the back of the neck. Causing her to slump backwards. She would've hit the ground if Luther hadn't rushed forwards and caught her. He glared at Five who paid him no mind and pulled her into the office, sitting her up against the wall. His brother came in after him, and began to type furiously. Luther looked over his shoulder and read,

"Terminate Cha-Cha for immediate extraction?" 

"Yep!" Five handed the paper to him, instructing him to roll it up as he typed another one, "These will hopefully buy us sometime when we get back." He showed the second message to Luther. It was the same as before, but it said to terminate Hazel. 

Five grabbed two tubes that were sitting on the desk, opening them and putting a message into each before rushing out into the room and sending them off. Luther checked on the old woman one last time and was about to exit the office when he heard The Handler.

"That's not protocol."

"I know," His brother replied, "But I couldn't find Gloria anywhere." The woman in question chose that moment to moan out in pain, causing a sigh to come from The Handler.

"You've disappointed me." Luther heard two noises at once: one being the familiar _thwip_ of his brother's power, the other being a gun firing.

The bullet hit the lamp sitting on the desk as someone rushed into the office from another door. She looked up at Luther in terror, but he just helped the old woman off the floor, handing her off to the employee as he heard Five jump back into the room.

"I saved you a lifetime of being alone!" The Handler spat, "You owe me." She raised the arm holding the gun, but couldn't fire.

Luther had taken the moment to walk forward and grabbed her arm. He took the gun from her and crushed in one hand before tossing her back into the office behind him.

Security lights and alarms came on.

"I do owe a debt, just not to you." Five stood next to Luther, and threw a grenade at the woman, jumping them both out of the room onto a different floor. 

He handed Luther a second grenade and told him to wait there. Luther watched as he jumped into a room full of briefcases and grabbed one before jumping back out. The brothers huddled together as Five fiddled with the knobs until he looked up with a triumphant smirk.

"Throw the grenade into the briefcase room!" 

Luther knew better than to question him. So, he pulled the pin stood up and chucked it through the glass window, watching as the employee ducked under his desk. Barely a second past before the room went up in flames and Luther felt a hand grip his wrist.

For the second time that day, his world flashed blue and his feet left the ground. 


	15. Time Travel Murder and Mysteries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The misadventures of Five and Luther (pt.2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Mention sexual assault, violence and death

The ground rushed to meet Luther once the blue haze disappeared. He landed (thankfully) on his feet with a grunt and glanced around. Five had landed them in an alley somewhere and was currently opening a dumpster near by and shoved the briefcase inside.

"Alright, lets go." Five set of on a quick pace with Luther on his heels.

"Are, are we going back to the Academy?" Luther asked.

"No."

"No? Why not?" Five let out a harsh breath before turning back to him.

"Because we would run into dad. And that would cause a shit ton of more problems that we don't have the time to deal with." He turned and continued walking as Luther went over what Five had just said,

"Run into... Five?" He let out another sigh and turned back, "Where are we?"

"The better question Luther, is when."

Five led him to the mouth of the alley they had landed in and Luther noticed the subtle differences. It was the same city, but there were piles of snow on the sidewalk with slush strewn across the street and everyone was wearing a winter coat. Gone was the crisp air of spring or the smell of an oncoming rain shower, it was Winter.

Luther glanced around and saw his brother crossing the street to a newspaper kiosk that had already closed for the night. Five managed to worm his way into the booth and began shuffling around, popping back up with a triumphant grin a moment later. He brandished the paper in front of Luther and pointed at the date.

"January 24, 2019." Five stated as he climbed out of the booth, "Good."

"Janua- Five!" His brother had taken off down the street at a fast pace, prompting Luther to follow him, "Five! Five!" He didn't stop.

He led Luther down the street, ignoring the questions his brother was tossing him. Luther was running out of patience, dragging him to The Commission was one thing, but now this? Landing them both three months into the past with no explanation as to why? He needed answers and damn it! He was going to get them!

So, with that in mind, Luther reached out and grabbed Five by the shoulder.

"What. The hell. Are we doing? Why this day?" His brother sighed and said,

"I, will explain everything, but not here." Five shook him off and continued walking.

Shit. 

Luther resumed following him, realizing that it was the only way he was going to get answers. The brothers continued in a tense silence as they crunched through the light snow that had settled on the sidewalk, not stopping until Five veered sharply into another alley. He pulled Luther with him and squeezed both of them into the shadows, signaling to his brother to stay silent and watch. Luther looked at him puzzled but turned his gaze back to the opening and watched as-

"Vanya?" Five jabbed his elbow into Luther's stomach.

Their sister was limping past them with her violin slung over her shoulder, eyes glued to the sidewalk in front of her. About a second later, a beat up car that Luther recognized as Diego's pulled up and parked in front of the alley. Diego was pulled up far enough that he would have to twist back in his seat to look catch a glimpse of them, but Luther could see the back of his head from where he was standing.

The car shut off, but their brother didn't get out. Diego just sat there. Five let out a sigh before turning back to Luther,

"You have questions. Right now, we have sometime to go over them." He said,

"Why are we here? What the hell is so important about January 24?" Questioned Luther,

"Today is the day Peter Michelson was murdered. I assume you don't know who that is?" He shook his head. "Peter Michelson, is one of the bastards, who attacked and raped Vanya. Most importantly, he is the one who didn't go to prison for it. And he dies today."

A chill washed over Luther, and it didn't have anything to do with the dropping temperature. He knew little to nothing about Vanya's case, only what bits of information Allison had shared at the funeral and what Five had screamed in Vanya's apartment. Everything about it seemed surreal, the fact that Vanya, the ordinary (no, she has powers remember) sister who had nothing to do with the Academy had been brutally attacked. (Though everyone is quick to remind him it wasn't an attack on The Umbrella Academy ~~but no one would tell him why it had happened~~.) He shook himself out of his thoughts and looked down at his brother.

"Why are we here?"

"Before she left, Detective Patch had asked if I'd ever visited the city on this date. Apparently, the alley were Michelson was killed had a security camera. Showing his killer." Five stated,

"Doesn't seem very smart-" "Unless it's what the killer expected." Five motioned towards their brother's parked car, "Diego was the prime suspect. Until the tape was reviewed, showing that the killer was a kid wearing a blazer." Luther stared down at him,

"You killed him?" Five nodded.

"The alley where we landed, it's where he dies." Five turned again, facing the opening, "Ironic." Luther was puzzled,

"Ironic how?" 

"It's where he attacked Vanya."

They crouched in the alley until Diego exited his car, causing them both to straighten up. They watched as he came back in view a moment later with an arm wrapped around their sister, guiding her into the car. The car pulled out, and a man stopped where it had been parked, glaring in the direction their brother had driven before stalking in the opposite direction, towards the alley Five and Luther had landed. 

Five bolted up and began to follow him. That gave Luther all the confirmation he needed: that man was Peter Michelson. There was no doubt about it, he would not survive the night. The brother's followed him at a distance, but Five began to pick up the pace as Michelson got closer to the alley. It got to the point that Five was walking right beside him. 

"Peter Michelson?" The man in question jumped before glaring down at Five.

"Who the fu-" Luther grabbed him, wrapping a hand around his jaw to prevent the man from yelling. Luther felt something crunch under his fingers, causing Michelson to yelp as he was shoved into the alley with Five on his heels.

His brother pulled out a knife, shoving it into the man's leg behind his knee. Michelson stumbled along, gripping his leg. 

Five drew another knife and threw it, sending Michelson to the ground as it was embedded into his shoulder. Luther stepped further into the alley, making sure no one was around to notice what was happening as his brother approached the moaning man on the ground. 

Michelson had rolled on his side, moaning in pain, gasping when Five stepped on his windpipe and began to apply pressure before he leaned down.

"Do you know where you are?" The only answer was a strangled groan, "You are in the alley that you raped and assaulted my sister, and now," Five pulled another knife out, "You're going to die here!" He shoved the blade into Michelson's eye, causing blood to squirt onto Five's hand.

His brother stared down at the struggling man before he drew another knife. (Where the hell had Five been hiding them?)

"You. Deserve. This." It was shoved deep into the man's throat, and Five twisted his hand. Luther couldn't see everything, but he could hear the gurgling moan at the intrusion before Michelson went still.

Five stood up, wiping his hand on his blazer before stepping back to Luther. He looked up, studying Luther's face before saying.

"He deserved it. There was no physical evidence connecting him to the case, he would've walked free for the rest of his life." Luther nodded, glancing at the corpse that was a few feet away from them.

"You said there's a security camera?" Five nodded, confused, "Wouldn't it have seen us land here?" 

His brother paused, then said,

"Shit!" 

Five jumped away, leaving Luther with the body. He walked forward, studying what was left of the man's face before opening the dumpster and pulling out the briefcase. A few minutes later, Five reappeared and rushed towards him, not giving Luther a chance to ask what was wrong before jumping the both of them to the roof of the building. Five motioned for Luther to keep quiet as a door below them opened and someone began to gag.

"Good god! Cindy! Call the cops!" The door slammed closed, causing Five to relax a fraction before yanking the case out of Luther's hands.

"What the hell was that?" Questioned Luther,

"I had to alter the security footage, deleting the time when we landed and when you grabbed the case. Almost got caught though."

"Okay. What about the knives?" Five glanced up at him questioningly, "Can they be linked back to you someway? Where did you even get them?"

"Stole them from The Handler's office. Same place I got the grenades. Now," He straightened up, "We have one more stop to make before going back to March."

Luther was about to ask, but the sound of a gun going off interrupted him. He heard Five gasp out before the blue light flooded his vision and he was tumbling through space. It was more rocky than the last few times he'd traveled and Luther felt he was going to vomit as he landed. Instead of his feet, Luther rolled and was flopped on his back.

He swallowed down the urge to be sick, sitting up with a groan and looked around. He recognized his surroundings as the roof of The Umbrella Academy, the sun was out, despite the grey clouds in the sky and there was no sign of snow anywhere. Five appeared in his line of vision, glaring at the briefcase in his hands. There was a hole that showed blue flickering light and smoke was billowing out.

"Is it-" "Useless? Yes." Five angerly dropped it to the ground.

With a sigh, Luther stood shakily.

"When are we?" He asked

"Hopefully, the day we met with The Handler."

"Hopefully?" Five glanced up at him,

"The briefcase was shot before we jumped, something could've gone wrong. Like us landing on the intended day, but before we left to meet her." Luther was confused, 

"What?"

His brother let out a harsh sigh and said,

"We're on the roof right now. We've already met The Handler and gone to The Commission. With me so far?" Luther nodded, "Good, because our past selves, who haven't met The Handler are most likely sitting in the kitchen right now." Revelation and understanding dawned on Luther,

"There's two of us?" Five nodded, "So, so earlier when Grace said she was washing blood from your vest, that wasn't past-you. That was, now-you?" His brother nodded again,

"Just like how past-you didn't ask Pogo for the police file on Vanya's case! Instead that was-" "Now-me!" Five gave him a toothy smile before saying, 

"We need to be careful though. Running into our past selves can lead to a whole new world of problems." Luther was about to ask what he meant, but Five just gave him his 'we don't have time for this' face, so he said instead,

"I know where we can hide."

* * *

Luther led Five to the old green house that was kept on the other side of the house, it looked as if no one had been up there in years. Though his brother had a look of nostalgia on his face at the sight of the makeshift fort that stood in the middle of the room. Five didn't feel like asking. They stood in silence for a few minutes before Luther asked,

"So, we just wait here?" Five shook his head.

"No. You're going to wait here while I grab something." His brother opened his mouth to object but Five shoved a piece of paper in his face, "This was the message that was supposed to go to Hazel and Cha-Cha. 'Protect Harold Jenkins' I'm going to get his file from the precinct. See what I can find on him. Stay here until I get back."

He was gone before Luther could protest.

Five slunk throughout the halls, pausing when he heard the thumping footsteps of the past version of Luther on the floor below. He breathed a sigh of relief when the footsteps stopped but froze when new ones drew closer. It was the familiar clicking of heels against the wooden floors that were fast approaching, causing Five to try and jump. But he reappeared a foot away with the hall spinning slightly. Five shook himself, trying to get his bearings when someone rounded the corner.

"Oh my goodness!" It was Grace. She must have just come from the kitchen because she was holding the destroyed overcoat she had taken from Luther that morning before he'd called their siblings, informing them that she was back online. "Five, you're bleeding." He looked down, noticing the dark spot that had slowly begun to spread down his side.

"It's nothing, just a scratch." He pressed lightly on his side, hiding the flinch that ran through him. "Though I could, use some help getting the blood out. Would it be alright if I left my vest in the laundry room?" Grace gave him her stunning smile,

"Of course. I'll start working on it as soon as possible. Are you sure you don't want help with your side?" Five gave her a tight grin and a nod before slipping past her.

He shed the blazer and vest, realizing that whoever shot at him and Luther had not only hit the briefcase, but him as well. Blood was staining his shirt and dripping down into his shorts. Five grimaced but put pressure on his side. He couldn't go to his room, past-him would be there running equations by Delores and he couldn't go to the infirmary in case he ran into Pogo; the only option was to carry on.

After dropping off the vest in the laundry room, Five grabbed one of the clean hand-towels and shoved it under his shirt. Hoping to stem the blood. He then tried to jump again, this time, landing outside. His surroundings were slightly spinning, but he had to keep going. Jumping was out of the question due to his injury so Five's only option was walking to the precinct.

It took longer than Five wanted. The towel he'd grabbed earlier was damp with blood and he was certain it had dripped into his shorts by the time the precinct came into view. Five moved to the side, hiding in the shadows of the building. He shook himself, getting ready for a jump when the side door opened and an irate Detective Patch stormed out. She caught sight of Five and froze, leaving the two to eye each other.

"Detective."

"Five." She stepped towards him, "I'm guessing I shouldn't ask why you're here?"

"I, suppose not no." Replied Five, causing Patch to sigh and shake her head. "Though I could use your help." 

Patch glanced down sharply, glaring.

"Let me guess, I could get into more trouble!" 

"More trouble?" Questioned Five,

"Because of the shoot out at the Lunar Motel and the fact I went without back up and fled the scene, I'm now suspended. For two weeks." She snapped, "So if you need help, I don't think you'll get it from me." Patch began to walk past him, but stopped when Five reached out and grabbed her elbow.

"That wasn't my fault! You volunteered to go with my brothers to the motel! That was-" He cut himself off, "I don't have time for this. But if you don't help me get the information I need, a lot of people are going to die!"

"Then let the police handle it-" "They won't be able to! This is a matter of life or death on a global scale! If you think that these city cops would be able to stop the end of the world, then by all means; walk back in there and tell them there are three days till the end of all life on this earth. All. Life. Do you honestly think that those people in there would be able to handle the apocalypse? Would they even believe you?"

* * *

Packets were strewn across the floor surrounding Luther. He'd just asked Pogo about Vanya's case file, telling the chimp he would most likely be downstairs when Pogo agreed to search for his father's copy.

He should have just left it at that. 

Why did he have to ask about the damn research?

The way Pogo had tensed should have been enough warning to let it go and never ask about it again.

No, he had to tear apart his father's office and room to find his moon research.

Then he tripped on the carpet, revealing a hidden compartment in the floor. That his moon research sat in, unopened.

Pogo had been wise enough to make himself scarce before he'd started looking and Luther was grateful. The break down he was having, lets just say Luther was happy no one was around to see the mess Number One was becoming.

But he could never have what he wants could he?

Footsteps were hurrying through the hall and entering the room.

"Luther! What the hell I told you to... What the hell?" Five had stepped on one of the open packets and looked down in confusion at the mess. 

"He didn't even open them." Muttered Luther, "Four years up there. I wasted my life for him!" His brother stepped carefully around the packets before standing in front of him.

"These are all your..." "All the research I sent from the room. He didn't even look at them!" 

Luther grabbed a handful of his research and threw it across the room as the house began to shake. Five glanced around sharply as the figurines and pictures rattled in place, some falling on the floor. It stopped a moment later.

"I take it, Pogo just showed the others the file." He turned back as Luther began to stand and head towards the door. "What are you doing?"

"I'm done. I can't do this. I wasn't a good enough Number One! No wonder he sent me away!" Luther moved past Five, he then made a mistake.

Five moved forwards, grabbing his arm and Luther shoved him away. Causing Five to tumble to the floor with a groan.

He didn't get up. 

Luther was halfway out the door when he noticed his unmoving brother.

"Five?" He walked over cautiously, then quickly. Dark liquid was pooling onto the floor from his brother.

"Five!" Luther pulled at his shirt, revealing a bloodstained towel that had been shoved against his brother's side. He was losing too much blood.

"Keep going," Five muttered, "So close!" He tapped repeatedly on the folder he'd dropped, then went still.

"Five!" Luther shook him, panicking when he didn't respond, ignoring the way his brother's blood stained his hands red.

"Five!" 


	16. Bad Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus was not having a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Death, blood, violence, panic attack

"No, no no! I can't go back! I can't go back! Wait!"

BANG!

Klaus groaned, rubbed his nose and opened his eyes. What had he hit his head on? Klaus blinked a few times, trying to get rid of the darkness clouding his vision. 

It was still dark.

He rubbed his eyes.

Nothing.

Shakily, Klaus began to wave a hand in front of his face, freezing when something brushed against the back of it. It was smooth, cold. He put both palms flat on the thing on top of him, then moved them out to his sides. There were two walls on either side of him. 

It was cold. No, freezing!

And he was fucking naked.

Great.

Klaus began to panic. What kind of box was this? He could feel a wall behind his head, and if he stretched out his feet, his toes brushed against a cold metal wall. He needed to get out of here. He needed to get out of here!

He began to bang on the wall by his head and began to scream,

"Let me out! Hello!? Is Anyone there!?! LET ME OUT!!!!" Klaus screamed and yelled over and over again.

His voice was getting hoarse and tears leaked out of his eyes. 

Voices crowded his ears. The smooth metal turned to stone. He was a kid again, waiting for dad to come and open the mausoleum doors to let him out. The dead were crowding him, screaming, yelling, reaching. Oh god were they touching him?!?! Different people were crowding his vision and the screaming grew in volume, causing his ears to ring.

Klaus couldn't breathe.

He couldn't see.

He kept banging on the wall in front of him and kept screaming to be let out. 

A few (seconds? Minutes? Hours?) moments later, light flooded around him and Klaus was jerked forwards. He was suddenly looking up at bright, fluorescent lights. The unexpected brightness caused Klaus to try and shield his eyes as he rolled onto his side, falling to the ground. He groaned, standing shakily and looking around. There were two people standing off to the side, gazing at him with terrified expressions.

"Umm." Klaus looked down and realized the sheet that had covered him was in a heap by his feet. He hastily reached down and wrapped it around his waist before looking up back at the two.

"Where am I?" Neither answered. The three were in some sort of awkward stand off, and none of them really knew what to do. The tense silence was broken when the doors were opened by an exhausted looking Detective Beaman.

"Nancy, please tell me you have Klaus Hargreeves' skull back to-" He stopped short at the sight of Klaus standing across from the two others. "What the hell?"

"Trust me detective, I've been asking myself the same thing."

After getting over the initial shock of seeing him standing upright, Beaman had one of the others (apparently one was a doctor and the other was her intern) check the back of his head before grabbing Klaus' clothes from a locker sitting on the other side of the room. Once the plastic bag was in his hands, Klaus ripped it open and scrounged around until his hand came into contact with the cool metal of Dave's tags. He took a shaky breath in relief as he slipped them over his head, squeezing the tags in his hand before reaching for the rest of his clothes.

Beaman and the others didn't seem to care Klaus was getting dressed in the open room, opting instead to have a hushed conversation in the corner while gesturing back to him. Klaus paid them no mind as he glanced around the room. He was in a morgue, which was surprisingly devoid of ghosts. In a way that makes since, people are already dead when they arrive here and ghosts tend to haunt where they died.

But where was Ben?

Klaus could remember him being around before he met the girl on her bike, and he could still feel the tether that connected to two of them. But where was he?

Where was Vanya?

How long was he in dad's barbershop of hell?

Who the hell killed him?

Was Vanya okay?

His train of thought was broken as Beaman walked up to him. The detective stared at him and asked,

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Getting hit really hard on the head." Klaus replied,

"Getting hit- The back of your skull was in pieces! You had no goddamn pulse!" Beaman paused, took a breath and said, "Tell me everything that happened at your sister's apartment."

So he did, though leaving out the part of his ghostly brother playing with pages of a book, from following Vanya out of The Academy to hearing her being knocked to the ground. Klaus had finished explaining what had happened when Beaman asked,

"Did you get a good look at who did this? Any idea who they were why they would do this?" Klaus shook his head,

"It was a guy, but other than that, no." The detective sighed and ran a hand down his face and nodded.

"All right, can you come down to the station to give an official statement? I'll try and get in touch with Diego while we're there."

* * *

It was a few hours later when Klaus could leave the station. He'd been checked by multiple people for a concussion and even had the captain pull him inside his office and ask if this coming back to life was an umbrella thing. He'd answered,

"This is the first time it's happened so who the hell knows!" Lupo had studied him with scrutiny before nodding and said,

"Lets keep it to this one time then."

Now, Klaus was sitting in the passenger seat of Beaman's cruiser as he drove them towards the Academy. As the tall mansion began to loom above them, Klaus turned to Beaman and asked,

"Hey, not that I'm not happy to see you, whe-" "Where's Patch?" "Yeah." The detective sighed and said,

"After the shoot out at the Lunar Motel, Lupo suspended her for two weeks." Klaus glanced at him sharply,

"What?"

"Yeah, she unofficially went with two civilians and fled the scene." The glare he sent the road in front of them told Klaus what he thought of the situation.

"She, she won't lose her job, will she?" He questioned, causing Beaman to glance at him,

"No. Captain would've let her off with desk duty for a month since no civilians were injured, and she was technically following a lead. But," The detective sighed, "There's a lot of people, higher ups, who don't like Diego. They know what he's been doing and they know we mainly just let him go when arrested. So they were about to hang Patch out to dry when it came out that Diego was with her at the scene. Lupo was told suspension or termination."

Beaman pulled over, parking at the side of the road in front of The Academy.

"Listen, the whole reason Patch is getting a shit ton of heat from this is because of the relationship between her and Diego. Even though they broke up years ago, a lot of people believe she'll bend the rules or turn a blind eye when it comes to him. Though she has proven countless times that she would never do that."

Klaus nodded.

They were both silent for a moment before Klaus thanked the detective for the ride, and opened the door. He walked up to the double doors of The Academy, entering slowly. He stood silently in the hall in front of the overturned chandelier, it still had remnants of Luther's jacket stuck to the side.

The past events started to rattle around his head. 

_Klaus opened his eyes with a groan and sat up, blinking in confusion at the monotone world around him._ _He began to walk down a dirt path, realizing there was someone approaching._

_"Yoo-hoo!" He called out in greeting to the figure._

_The figure turned out to be a little girl, maybe no older than Five, and riding a bike. She halted to a stop in front of Klaus saying,_

_"Almost rode right past you, all pale and all. They don't have any sun down there?" What?_

_"Down... Were am I?" Klaus asked,_

_"Were do you think?" The girl questioned with a raised brow._

_"I don't know, I'm agnostic so-" "Doesn't really matter," She interrupted, "You can't stay." He gazed at her confused._

_"Why not?"_

_"To be blunt, I don't like that much."_

_Oh, that was probably to be expected. Hell, Klaus didn't even like himself all to much, he only seemed good at playing messenger for Ben. He even messes that up most of the-_

_"Hey!" The girl snapped her fingers, catching his attention, "I can hear you self-deprecating. You have no time for a pity party, he's waiting for you."_

_"Who?" Her only reply was to point at a small cabin standing in the center of a clearing. Klaus knew one person who openly voiced finding a secluded cabin, a place where they wouldn't have to hide or be afraid that someone would see them. His face split into a wide grin as he said,_

_"Dave!"_

_Klaus took off running, shouting for Dave as excitement filled him. Dave! He would get to see Dave! He burst through the door, calling for his love, but was confused at the sight before him. The cabin's interior sure as hell didn't match the exterior. It looked like a damn barbershop! Klaus paced the length of the room, studying the pictures of his siblings on the wall, pausing at the one in the middle. Dave. Was he here?_

_With a sigh, Klaus sat in one of the chairs as he gazed up at the portraits on the wall. He was dead, would Ben show up? Do the rest of his siblings know? Was Vanya okay?_

_He was startled out of his thoughts by someone draping an apron across his chest (what's the name of those things? Ben would know. ( ~~Ben's not here~~_ _)) followed by a warm towel being wrapped around his chin._

_"Oh, that's nice-" "What in god's name took you so long?" Klaus froze. He knew that voice. He hated that voice!_

_Klaus reached up, pulled the towel away and said, "Dad."_

_"I expected my son who could conjure the dead to have brought me forward days ago!" God, even in death he was a bastard._

_"Well, did you ever think I just didn't want to-" "In other words, you were poisoning yourself." He scoffed, of course that's what father dearest thought._

_"Nope. Actually didn't feel like summoning my prick of a father who drugged my siste-mmph!" Reginald didn't break stride as he lathered the shaving cream across Klaus' face, though he faltered slightly when he realized what Klaus had said._

_"Number Seven's medication was made specifically to-" "Numb her emotions and shut her powers down yes we know." Klaus looked up at his father, "You're dead, no need to hold on to that lie."_

_Reginald glared at him, grabbed the top of his head, and pulled back, exposing his neck and began to shave Klaus' face. It was a silent few seconds before he said,_

_"Her powers were far too dangerous to control. It had to be done. You may think other wise, but then again, you children always liked to blame everything on me." He twisted Klaus' head and continued his work._

_"Well you are a sadistic prick. Not to mention the world's worse father!" He sighed, pushing Reginald's hand away and stood up, wiping the cream off his face. "I don't want to hear what justifications you have for doing what you did." Klaus began to walk back towards the door, maybe he could continue to look for Dave._

_"After everything I've done to get you and the others together. To keep you safe-" "Safe?!" Klaus whirled around in anger._

_"Safe?! You took goddamn kids and put them in dangerous situations! Over and over again! What the hell do you mean safe! You got Ben killed! That wasn't on any of us! That was you! You wanna know why?! Because we were fucking kids! Little kids who, yes, had powers, but kids who needed a goddamn family and someone who loved us! That sure as hell wasn't you!" Klaus was seething as he stood toe to toe with his father._

_"You, were never 'just kids', if it weren't for me, you'd all probably be dead before the age five. Believe it or not Number Four, I always had your best interests in mind. I needed to prepare you for to save the world." Klaus looked at him in confusion,_

_"Wait, so, the apocalypse? You knew abou-" "I had to get you all together somehow."_

_Klaus stared at him, realizing what his father was saying,_

_"You, you're saying you... Killed, yourself? To get us all together?"_

_"I knew the only way to get you all to come together, was if something momentous happened." Klaus shook his head in disbelief and Reginald kept talking, "You must listen to me now Number Four! What I'm about to say has great importance...."_

_He faded from view and Klaus realized that objects around the room began to disappear while the little girl's words ran through his head; 'You can't stay.'_

_Nonononononono he needed to find Dave!_

_Klaus ran for the door, banging against it when it didn't open and began to scream-_

"Klaus!"

He jerked back from the heavy hand on his shoulder and shook his head. Luther was standing in front of him with a look of concern on his face. Klaus ran a hand down his face before replying,

"Hey big guy. What's..." There was a new ghost hanging around and Klaus recognized him. 

He'd only seen the man once, but Klaus remembered what that greasy-haired bastard looked like! 

Jerome Anders was standing behind Luther with blood spilling down his face as he glared at Luther. He soon realized that Klaus was staring him down and began yelling, screaming at him to do something, anything to the man who killed him! Not to let him get off easy! Do something! But Klaus wasn't listening.

Instead, he reached for his powers and rushed forwards, punching the ghost's face in.

Again.

Again.

And again.

He didn't stop until Luther pulled him off, yelling for him to stop. Klaus struggled for a moment before slumping back in defeat, knowing he would never break from Luther's hold, and allowed the asshole to fade back into incorporeality. His brother dragged him into the other room and plopped him onto a chair by the fireplace. 

"Klaus, what the hell was that?" His brother asked and Klaus glared at him,

"I'm not going to explain anything, until you tell me why the hell Jerome Anders is fucking following you! And screaming that you killed him!" Now, Klaus wasn't upset he was dead, Klaus was more upset with the fact he was there! 

Luther sat in the chair across from him with a sigh and muttered, "Because I did kill him." God, he sounded sad about it.

"Oh, good for you. The bastard deserved it!" Exclaimed Klaus, causing his brother to glance up at him sharply,

"Why is everyone saying that?" he asked, "Who the hell was he?" Klaus sighed,

"Luther, he attacked Vanya! He, he fucking violated her! He's the damn reason she limps! He took a damn knife and cut her leg open!" Luther stared at Klaus with wide eyes,

"But, wasn't Peter Michelson the one who...?" Klaus sighed again and put his head in his hands,

"Michelson was the one who didn't get tried for it. Anders was the one who went to prison." He glanced up, studying his brother.

Luther was staring at the ground with his arms crossed on his knees, he looked exhausted. And there was dried blood crusted on his nails. Klaus leaned forwards, trying to catch his brother's eye.

"Luther?" He sighed and looked up, "What the hell happened?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this chapter was more of a filler than anything.


	17. The Home of Harold Jenkins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is falling apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Mention death, murder, panic attack, drug use, nonconsensual drug use, sexual assault.  
> This gets dark.

The room was silent as Luther stared at Klaus in disbelief. He'd told Klaus about how he and Five tried to gather more information on the apocalypse while at the Commission, their time travel side trip and finding out that Five had gotten shot. (Though Luther left out his breakdown after finding the moon research. He wasn't going to admit his doubts about Dad to _Klaus_ of all people.) Klaus, in turn, told him about the attack in Vanya's apartment, dying ~~_(what)_~~ meeting Dad in the ~~_(supposed)_~~ afterlife and waking up in a morgue. 

"Luther? You hear anything I just said?" He shook his head, glancing at his brother. "Okay, where'd I lose you?" Klaus asked but Luther just shook his head again.

"You, died?" His brother nodded,

"Yep. God is a bike riding bitch who doesn't like me and dad apparently runs a barbershop."

None of what Klaus was saying made sense. He died? But came back? That couldn't be possible. Even for them. Could he be lying? Maybe he hadn't died, maybe...

Maybe...

His brother seemed to realize that Luther was having doubts.

"I know it's a lot," He began, "Hell, if I hadn't woken up in a body freezer I'd probably not believe it actually happened. But I'm telling you it did! And I talked to dad!" Luther just kept shaking his head,

"Klaus listen, I get, that what happened this morning was a lot. With the nightmare and Vanya, exploding, but you don't have to make something up. You've been sober and I'm proud of you for that, but, I would understand if you-" "You think I had a bad trip or something, don't you?" Luther finally looked up at Klaus.

Klaus' face was completely devoid of any emotion, which unsettled him. Before he could say anything, Klaus stood up and began to walk out causing Luther to quickly begin to follow him.

"Hey no wait!" His brother whirled around quickly and jabbed a finger in his face.

"Piss off Luther! You don't get to make that kind of assumption! Believe it or not Luther! I died and dad fucking killed himself!" At the end of his rant, Klaus was panting but before Luther could form a response, someone else began speaking,

"Master Klaus, is correct." It was Pogo, "I, regrettably helped Master Hargreeves complete his plan. So did Grace. Prior to your Father's death, Grace's programing was altered so she would be unable to administer first aid." Luther stared at him in disbelief and asked,

"The security tape?" The chimp sighed,

"It, was meant to further the mystery. To inspire you all to act as a team again."

Luther was getting angry, Pogo was someone he and the rest of his siblings trusted, someone they felt they could go to. Hearing that his father's death was executed in this way, that Pogo knew about it and just watched as Luther searched for clues...

"Vanya's powers, the moon mission and now this? Are there any other secrets that you need to tell us?" Pogo took a shuffling step forwards, staring him in the eye,

"I had no choi-" "There's always a choice!"

Before he could say anything else, Klaus stood between them and tugged on his arm. Luther glanced down at him, watching as his brother attempted to pull him from the room. He pulled his arm away, roughly shoving past Klaus and stomped out of the room.

Anger was bubbling in his blood. 

Rage was running through his system.

Everything was turning on it's head.

He found himself back in that room with his research strewn about the floor and the dark stain from Five's blood. Grace had stitched him up and was sitting with Five in his room, thank god Pogo had gotten her back online. Luther sat among the packets with a sigh and began to wish Vanya hadn't blown up the liquor cabinet.

Something caught his eye. It was the folder Five had retrieved from the police station before collapsing. There were smeared bloody finger prints on the front and an upper corner was stained red.

Luther picked up the file with a sigh, should he open it? Gather information for when Five wakes up?

Would he mess everything up?

No. Might as well open it and get something done. So Five won't be on his ass later. He flipped it open and began to read.

There was the date of birth, address, grandmother's address, work place and the crime. Jenkins had killed his father as a teenager and had gotten only twelve years for it, jesus. Luther turned the page, stopping at the picture of the man clipped to the paper, he'd seen that face before. But whe- Oh shit!

Luther knew he wasn't the right person to lead, but Five was injured while Diego and Allison were MIA. So it just left him and Klaus (and, and Ben). So he rushed out of the room, file in hand, searching for his brother. 

He found Klaus standing outside of Five's room watching while Grace changed the bandages on their brother. Klaus glanced up at Luther as he approached, raising an eyebrow at his distressed expression.

"What's-" "Five said Harold Jenkins may be the person who causes the apocalypse." He started, showing Klaus the file "This guy, Klaus, is Harold Jenkins and he was at Vanya's earlier this week. Said he was a student of hers." 

Klaus took the file and gazed at the picture in scrutiny, then panic.

"Klaus?" He took a shaky breath then said,

"I, Luther I, think this is the guy who was at Vanya's apartment."

"What?"

"I mean I, didn't get a good look at his face, but I'm pretty sure this was the guy who killed me! Which means-" "He probably has Vanya!" The brother's shared a glance before running down the hall towards the door.

Luther let Dad stop him from helping his sister last time, he won't let that happen again.

* * *

The house was, simple and unassuming, then again, so was Harold Jenkins. Luther followed Klaus as he raced up the porch steps and began knocking on the door, he let out a frustrated groan when no one answered. Luther nudged Klaus out of the way and twisted the handle, intending to break the lock, but was surprised when he met no resistance. He shot a confused look at his brother before opening the door.

"What kind of homicidal maniac forgets to lock his door?" Klaus questioned as he walked inside. 

Luther glanced around the entrance, checking for some sort of alarm but sighed in relief when he came up empty.

"You think you can check the upstairs?" He asked,

"What? Oh yeah I'll scream if I'm in danger." Klaus flashed him a tight grin before walking up the stairs. Luther waited till he disappeared from view and began his exploration of the lower level.

He came up empty, there wasn't any hints about where Jenkins was or if he was even staying here. All the dishes were clean and the fridge had barely any food in it along with the cupboards. Everything in the house screamed that an unassuming person lived here, but if Five was right, there had to be something out of the ordinary.

"Luther! Get your ass up here!" Screamed Klaus, causing him to run up the stairs.

There was a ladder leading up to an attic hanging down by the top of the stairs. Luther paused, then slowly started to climb up, flinching slightly at each creak in the wood. It took a moment, but he was able to squeeze his shoulders through the narrow entry way. He didn't have a chance to ask what was wrong before he spotted them. 

There were posters of The Umbrella Academy lining the walls, with x's over the eyes and scratches down the faces. Comics with pages torn to shreds and figurines that had been melted and disfigured.

"Jesus Christ!" Whispered Luther, 

"Well, it's nice to know the harbinger of the apocalypse has it out for us." Klaus sighed.

"No, this, this could actually be good!" His brother stared at him incredulously, "He has it out for The Academy! You, me, Diego, Allison, Ben, he wouldn't know about Vanya."

"What about her book though? What if he read that?"

"Okay, so he knows about Vanya. But he doesn't know she has powers! Vanya could take him by surprise!" Luther felt hope begin to rise, and was confused when Klaus shook his head, "What?"

"She took her pills Luther. About five of them before he attacked us. Vanya would need to wait for the medication to be out of her system before she could use them." He glanced up with despair in his eyes, "It might be to late by then."

Klaus began to move past him towards the exit, stopping when Luther placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, what's going on with you?" Luther asked, causing Klaus to let out a hysterical laugh,

"Vanya, Vanya may be dead! Allison and Diego think _I'm_ dead! Five is half dead! And Ben is... Ben is..." He trailed off,

"Ben is what, Klaus?" Prompted Luther as his brother let out a sigh,

"Ever since I woke up, he's been gone! I haven't seen him since I got back and I've got no fucking clue where he is!"

* * *

Leonard was sitting quietly and flipping through the red notebook he'd found at Vanya's apartment as he waited for her to wake up. She was currently tied to one of the chairs in the small kitchen area with tape over her mouth while Ben hovered over her with worry etched into his face.

He was completely useless.

Ben had felt when Klaus, Klaus died. So he couldn't do anything to get Vanya out, but he'd be damned if he left her alone.

Minutes passed.

Leonard closed the book with a sigh before walking towards the kitchen, causing Ben to stand in front of his sister. The man moved past Vanya, grabbing a hand towel and turning on the sink. After thoroughly wetting the cloth, Leonard walked up to Vanya and brushed her hair away from her face, washing away the blood from when he knocked her out.

"Don't you fucking touch her!" Snarled Ben, but it went unheard.

The gentleness he used to clean up the blood made Ben sick.

Vanya began to stir, blearily opening her eyes. She quickly caught sight of Leonard next to her and began to thrash, trying to get away from him.

"Hey no no no. Don't do that." He spoke as if he was talking to a frightened animal, "I'm just trying to clean the blood off."

Leonard finished washing the blood and set the towel on the table, leaning back in his chair. He stared at Vanya, making sure she was looking at him before saying,

"Sorry about the cut. I was just trying to knock you out. Your brother, wasn't so lucky, there was a bit of a mess when I left. Didn't have time to clean it up." Vanya's gaze turned to horror, "I couldn't have you spilling all my secrets to him when I was done, could I?"

The wail Vanya let out sent chills down Ben's spine when it fully dawned on her that Klaus was gone. It was less than a second later that Leonard stood up and slapped her across the face.

"You fucking bastard!" Ben screamed as the Horror writhed. He couldn't do anything, it would just pass right through the asshole.

"I didn't think you would've been close to your family, when you were at my shop and said you needed to call them, I figured that was a lie. So I was surprised," He started once Vanya had quieted down, "When I saw the Kraken, of all people pick you up at Bricktown. Figured with a tell-all memoir, none of them would have wanted to see you. But the two of you seemed, close." He sighed and shook his head, walking back to the sink and grabbed a cup.

"Guess I had to reevaluate a few things, huh?" Leonard let out a small laugh, was this a goddamn joke to him? "So, I did some digging. Found out you were involved in a rape case. Turns out if you're traumatized enough, anyone will look over your mistakes."

Ben wanted nothing more than to punch the smug smirk off that rat bastard's face as he walked back over, cup of water in hand.

"What was most surprising, was the red notebook I found while at your apartment. Detailing little Number Seven's powers. And everyone else's, for that matter. Along with all their flaws and shortcomings." He ripped of the tape and gripped Vanya's chin, tilting her head back. Leonard brought the cup to her lips, making sure she took at least a mouthful and swallowed it before setting the cup back onto the table.

"Though I'm afraid you won't be able to show them to me. You'll most likely be dead. But who knows, maybe you'll get to at least see your siblings before then." Vanya shot him a wary look,

"What do you mean by that?"

"I left a message at your brother's place." He began to undo the rope tying Vanya to the chair. "You're not the only one I followed. Though, how fast he gets here depends on how fast he finds it."

The last of the rope fell to the floor and Vanya pushed him away. She sprang up out of the chair, and promptly collapsed to the ground.

"Vanya? Vanya!" Ben yelled, "You need to get up! Get up!" He crouched beside her, panicking at the dazed look on her face. 

"What, wh't y'u..." Leonard kneeled down and situated Vanya so she was leaning against him.

"Did you know, that there are a shit ton of roofies? And it's so easy to get your hands on them?"

Roofies? Why the hell was he...

No! No, no, no! He couldn't!

"Don't you dare!" Ben whispered, "Don't you fucking dare!"

It seemed to have caught up with Vanya what he meant, because she began crying as he dragged her into a different room. She weakly struggled against him, her attacks feeble due to the drugs in her system.

Ben was rooted in place. He couldn't do anything. He could only shove his fingers in his ears as an attempt to block out the noise coming from the other room. He was crying.

He couldn't do anything.

Back in the city, Diego was shaking Allison awake. He brandished the envelope he found in front of her. In large print, the word 'Kraken' was scrawled on the front.

Inside was an address for a cabin in Jackpine Cove, and a picture of their little sister. 

They would find her!

They would save her! 


	18. Everything Goes Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allison and Diego race to find Vanya.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Mention death, sexual assault, attempted murder.

The car sped down the road as rain began to pound against the ground while Diego drove. Allison was in the seat beside him, head resting against the window. Neither spoke. The silence was tense. Both were still processing the fact Klaus was dead, they still needed to call The Academy to let the others know. With everything that had happened, there never seemed to be a good time. (Neither wanted to be the one to tell them that Klaus was gone and they'd lost Ben all over again.)

"How much farther?" Diego asked, prompting Allison to look at the map they'd grabbed at a gas station.

"About fifteen more miles, we should be close to the property line by then." She let out a sigh, "It's six miles after that to the cabin."

To long, it would take too fucking long to get to their sister. Who knew if she was even still...

Diego pressed down on the gas.

Allison stared ahead in worry.

After about twenty minutes the rain had let up to a light sprinkle and Diego urged the car along faster. They were getting closer, but were still far away. Diego sped through the empty back road, grateful that the only car they'd seen was a red truck going the opposite direction. There was a pink hue beginning to streak across the sky, highlighting the approaching tree line. Allison sat forwards in her seat, staring through the trees. 

They raced down the winding gravel path, stopping when a clearing began to form in front of them. Diego directed the car outside of the cabin and turned to Allison, who was already opening her door. She ran up to the cabin, peering through the windows for any sign of their sister while her brother marched straight up to the door.

BANG! CRASH!

Diego had slammed himself against the door, breaking the lock and stumbled forwards into the main room. He ignored the sharp pain that ignited in his side and began looking around as Allison entered, flipping on the light switch. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, it just looked like a cabin waiting for it's residence to arrive. Except for the underlying smell of bleach that filtered into the room. The siblings glanced at each other before beginning their search.

The cabin was small, so Diego made quick work of searching through the living room before walking into the bedroom as Allison began to search the back. Diego appeared to be in the master bedroom. It was decently decorated and had a queen size bed in the middle of the room with no sign of anyone being here.

Diego took a sharp breath, where was Vanya?

He'd found the envelope taped to the punching bag he kept in the boiler room. It was addressed to him, and Allison triple checked the location written inside. Hell, his sister had even asked for directions. So Vanya had to be here! 

But were the hell was-

"DIEGO!" 

His sister's scream jolted Diego out of his thoughts, causing him to run out of the room. He found Allison kneeling on the floor in the bathroom and almost stumbled back, the smell was overwhelming in the small room. Diego shook his head, focusing instead on his sister as she cupped the face of a pale figure who was hunched in the corner.

Vanya.

Vanya's hands were tied to the pipe under the sink and had been twisted in a way that looked painful and her legs were pulled up to her chest. There was tape over her mouth and, her eyes were completely blank, staring through Allison. Diego would've thought she was dead if it weren't for the tremors wracking her small frame.

Diego pushed Allison aside as he drew one of his knives, making quick work of the rope around his sister's wrists. Once freed, Vanya began to slump sideways, prompting Diego to grab her. He held his sister close, picked her up gently and carried her out of the room with Allison on his heels. He was about to set her on the couch when Allison let out a gasp, causing Diego to turn towards her.

"Take her outside!" She exclaimed, "NOW!" He didn't ask why, the panic in her voice was enough to send him running.

The remains of the broken door were kicked aside as Diego ran out of the cabin. There were a few chairs situated on the deck, overlooking the lake, and he wasted no time setting Vanya down in one. He reached out and gently gripped her wrist, much like he did when she was in the hospital all those months ago, and tried to get Vanya to focus on him when he noticed it: someone was moving around by the car.

Allison exited the cabin, rushing towards them and said, "We need to get her to a hospital!" 

Diego reached up and pulled her down next to him, ignoring her protests. He pointed towards the car and drew a knife, it was too far, Diego knew he wouldn't be able to do much from his vantage point. Not until the person moved around the car and out in the open.

There!

The figure had stood up by the trunk and was walking around to the front. Diego wasted no time.

He sprang to his feet and threw the knife, curving it towards the car. The man caught sight of him and began to run, but wasn't fast enough. Diego's knife slashed his face, causing the man to stumble and cry out in pain.

"Stay with her!" Diego commanded Allison as he raced towards the stairs.

The man had disappeared into the tree line when Diego reached the car, but he kept going. There was a red truck parked further along the road but no sign of anyone. Diego approached the vehicle with caution, unsure as to where the man went. He began to circle the truck when he heard the sound of a door opening and slamming shut. 

The engine roared to life and Diego had little time to jump back as it began to back up towards him. The bumper clipped his side as Diego rolled into the foliage lining the road and running into the trees, not stopping until he heard the truck's engine getting farther away.

The bastard was driving away!

He let out a frustrated swear before turning back to the cabin.

Allison had taken the tape of off Vanya's mouth and had her head resting against her shoulder. Neither acknowledged Diego as he approached.

"He got away-" "We can worry about that later!" Allison interrupted, "Take a look!" Diego walked closer, and saw Vanya's back.

Her shirt had either been cut or torn down the back, showing the many cuts and bruises that littered her skin. What was worse was the fact Vanya's skin was extremely red and inflamed, as if she was burned. 

"You know that, bleach, smell? I think he, poured it on her back. There was a bucket of it in the bathroom and," She faltered, but managed to continue, "I saw opened bottles of vinegar." Diego cast her a confused glance.

"Vinegar isn't harmful?"

"He mixed it with the bleach! And left the mixture in the _UN-VENTELATED_ bathroom with Vanya!"

Oh.

Oh no.

Diego shared a horrified glance with Allison before handing her the keys and picking Vanya up. 

They reclined the passenger seat and placed Vanya on her side as to not irritate her back. Diego carefully buckled her in as Allison went around to the driver's side, then let out a string of expletives, gaining her brother's attention.

"The bastard slashed the tires!" She exclaimed,

"It doesn't matter! We need to go!" Diego grabbed the keys from her and jumped in, starting the car as she got in the back.

It wasn't a smooth drive. Both tires on the drivers side were slashed so Diego had to fight with the car to keep it under control, and on the road. There were many close calls with a few trees, but the siblings breathed a sigh of relief when they skidded out of the trees and onto the road.

* * *

Five took a harsh breath then looked up at Luther.

"So, you have the file?" His brother nodded, "And instead of going to the second address once you realized Jenkins wasn't at the house, you came back here?" He nodded again.

Take. Another. Breath.

"WHY?"

"We, we wanted to check on you and-" "I don't need check-" "Five just-!" Luther took a breath as well.

"It was for Klaus more than anything, he's not okay." He looked at Luther in confusion, "You remember what he said? About dying?"

"Yeah, we're positive that happened?" Five asked,

"We are. Still not sure how he's back, but..." Luther shook his head, "Allison and Diego were at the scene when EMTS were brining him out, so they most likely think he's dead. Vanya's missing, you were shot. And he hasn't seen Ben."

Shit.

"Alright, lets grab Klaus and go." 

Their brother was in Ben's room, curled in a tight ball on the bed with his eyes closed. A cup of tea was on the bed side table, signifying that Grace had come to check on him at some point. At the sound of Luther knocking on the door Klaus' eyes popped open. He stared at them for a second before standing up and said,

"We going?"

* * *

Waiting.

This was Diego's least favorite part. 

Allison was currently talking with the police officer who was called to the hospital when they arrived. He was also a fan of Allison's, so maybe that could work in their favor and seeing that the officer had finished questioning them over an hour ago, it apparently was.

Diego didn't care. 

A nurse just walked over and was heading towards him. Diego stood and called Allison. She excused herself and walked over quickly.

The siblings followed the nurse to their sister as she explained Vanya's injuries. All cuts and bruises were superficial, but sadly Allison's assumption from earlier was correct. The bastard had poured bleach down her back, resulting in 2nd degree chemical burns.

The worst was the effect of the mixture of bleach and vinegar. Now, Diego didn't remember everything from their chemistry lessons as children, but he could list the results of mixing house hold chemicals. Whoever had taken Vanya made chlorine gas and had left it in the room with her. Whoever did this, wanted her to die and die slowly. His sister was now on oxygen and active charcoal in order to get the poison out of her system.

They paused before entering the room, the nurse glanced at them and cleared her throat.

"We did blood tests, and there were trace amounts of royhpnol in her system. We, have a rape kit in process. We'll let you know if there's any developments." Diego felt the blood drain from his face, "There's some good news though. Your sister woke up and she's been responding to the people around her." 

She led them into the room and led them to the bed behind the curtain. She pulled it, allowing the two to step around and moved it back to give them privacy. The sound of the curtain moving had gained the attention of Vanya, and she flinched when Diego and Allison stepped into view. 

They stare at each other for a second, then Vanya begins to cry. Allison immediately rushed to Vanya's side, hands fluttering, unsure of what to do. Diego was behind her, staring in horror as his hands shook. He never wanted to see Vanya in a damn hospital again.

(Ben was curled in one of the chairs with tears running down his face as Dr. Mason put a hand on his shoulder.)

Once she began to quiet down, Diego gripped her wrist loosely and gained her attention.

"Hey V." He tried giving her a reassuring smile, but knew it was ruined with the tears burning behind his eyes. Vanya held onto him weakly and Allison put a hand on her shoulder, gently brushing hair out of Vanya's face.

She tried to speak, but the oxygen mask she was wearing muffled her words. Diego shared a confused look with Allison, causing Vanya to realize they didn't understand what he was saying. Their sister tried to pull the mask down her face, prompting Allison to help her. She took a few deep breaths then asked,

"Is Klaus okay?" Her voice was rough and scratchy. "Is he here?"

The pleading look in her eyes made Diego's heart shatter. She already knew.

Instead of answering, he sat down and moved the mask back in place. Diego gently pulled her up and held her close, whispering a quiet apology in her ear. Another set of arms wrapped around the two as Allison rested her head against Vanya's shoulder.

Vanya was crying again.

Fuck, they all were.

They found Vanya, but were missing a brother.

* * *

About a hundred miles from Jackpine Cove, Klaus rested his head against the window of Diego's car with his eyes squeezed shut.

Vanya could be dead.

He didn't want to open his eyes incase her ghost found him. 

He didn't want to have another sibling haunt him. 


	19. Beginning of a Downward Spiral

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: Death, injury, blood, inaccurate medical description

Hushed voices floated into the room as Diego spoke with the doctor and nurse, but Allison paid no mind. She could barely make out what they were saying anyway. Allison was currently laying on the bed with Vanya curled next to her, tears slowly sliding down her face with a few catching in the mask.

Earlier, after the siblings grieved together for Klaus, Vanya had begged to be taken back to the Academy. She promised to stay under observation until Mom and Pogo gave an all clear, that she would call in sick from work, stop teaching until she was better, just begged them to take her anywhere and to not be left in another hospital. It had taken a moment to calm her down, but even then she insisted on being taken home. Diego said he would speak with a doctor, but that he couldn't promise anything. 

It was about fifteen minutes later when Diego walked back in. 

"Hey," Their brother sat at the end of the bed, "Doc's not happy, but they're letting you go. Just let them take some more blood, double check everything and talk to the officer then you can sign the AMA forms." 

"Really? They're, just letting her go?" Allison questioned and he sighed,

"I told them Mom's a nurse and can help take care of her. Also that we'd get an appointment at the hospital in town." Vanya began violently shaking her head, "Vanya, Vanya! You're not going to have to stay there, alright! You're gonna stay at the Academy, the appointments only to check and make sure that everything's alright. Plus agreeing to that is one of the only ways the doctors here will let you go." 

"Vanya?" She looked over at Allison, "It'll be okay."

The doctor chose that moment to walk in. He checked Vanya over and once he was satisfied with the answers he'd gotten, called for a nurse to draw blood. After the nurse began to take blood (and Diego going pale before turning away) The officer from earlier knocked on the door, asking Vanya if he could talk about what had happened so he could get a report started. He asked for Allison and Diego to step out while they spoke.

It took a moment for them to calm Vanya down, reassuring her that they would be outside the door and back in the room when she was done. With great reluctance, Vanya released her siblings, allowing them to step outside.

They stood silently in the hall, waiting. 

"Should we call the others?" Allison questioned, "Tell them about Vanya? And, and Klaus?" Diego took a sharp breath, then shook his head.

"We'll wait till we get back. Tell them in person." She nodded.

The siblings waited. A few minutes later they were approached by a mechanic that the officer had called, telling them that both tires had been replaced. Allison wrote down The Academy's address, telling the man to send the bill there. They were exchanging thanks when the officer ran out of Vanya's room, heading straight for the nurse's station.

"Offic-" "The man I questioned earlier. The one missing his eye, Peabody! Is he still here?" The nurse stammered as she began typing at her computer.

"No, no sir! He signed himself out about ten minutes ago!" He sighed angerly and spoke into his radio,

"This is Cheddar, I need an APB out. White, male, brown hair, missing an eye. Recently signed out of the hospital." He ran a hand down his face and turned back to the siblings as they approached. 

"The hell is going on?" Questioned Diego

"Your sister," he began, "Remembers who did this. He was a patient here, being treated for a knife injury. Had to get his eye removed during surgery. Does the name Leonard Peabody ring a bell for either of you?" Diego shook his head, but Allison nodded.

"I only met him once, barely even talked to him. Vanya said he was a new student." She looked between the two, "I think he was trying to ask her out."

"Alright, when was this?" 

"Earlier this week." 

He nodded while Diego looked angry. Allison had no doubt in her mind he was planning on making Peabody pay for what he did. The officer was about to say something else when there was a loud creak, followed by the lights shattering above them. 

The Hargreeves shared a glance before racing back into Vanya's room and were horrified at the sight of an open window, and an empty hospital bed. Allison was frozen to the ground as Diego ran to the window, peering outside. His face paled at what he saw, then bolted out of the room and towards the exit of the hospital as Allison cautiously approached the window, trying to see what had caused her brother to panic.

Vanya was being dragged away from the hospital towards a truck idling in the parking lot.

Allison, unlike her brother, climbed out of the window and took off towards them. She wasn't going to make it.

Her sister was shoved into the back of the truck and the driver was scrambling in, slamming the door shut as Allison finally reached them. She reached out, hand brushing the vehicle as it sped off. She barely had time to process what had happened when Dad's car pulled up beside her with Diego behind the wheel. Allison scrambled into the passenger seat as her brother rushed after the truck, both ignoring the shouts of the officer as he stepped out of the hospital.

* * *

Luther was cramped into the back seat of Diego's car as Five sped down the road. The silence was tense.

Five kept his gaze pinned forwards and Klaus had his eyes squeezed shut while his head rested against the window. 

The brothers had arrived at the cabin, only to find it had two police cruisers out front. They'd been spotted by an officer which caused Five to put the old car in reverse and tear back down the way they came. None of them wanted to be asked why they were there or why a child was driving two adult men. They didn't have time for that. 

But it seemed time wasn't going to be on their side.

Five pressed down on the breaks, causing both him and Klaus to jerk forwards as the car came to a sudden stop. A traffic jam. Wonderful.

They inched forwards slowly as the minutes ticked by. About forty minutes had passed when they saw the cause of the traffic and Five let out a string of colorful words. 

"Klaus!" He jabbed their brother sharply in the shoulder, "Can you drive? We're about to go past a shit ton of police and I don't feel like getting pulled over because of my thirteen year old body." Klaus gave a tentative nod.

Five put the car in park and jumped into the back seat next to Luther as Klaus climbed clumsily over the middle console and settled into the drivers seat.

The sight in front of them was gruesome. A red truck was split down the middle, separating the driver's cabin from the bed. Glass was littering the road and it seemed the bloody mass sticking out of the windshield was the driver.

"Jesus!" Luther whispered, "What the hell happened?" 

They had stopped in front of the wreckage, eyes fixated on the mess, Klaus wasn't though. Luther noticed his gaze frozen on an empty spot, which he was starting to associate with Klaus seeing a ghost. He reached forwards, tapping Klaus lightly on the shoulder, causing him to jump. 

"Christ on a- shit!" Klaus took a breath as Luther and Five glanced at him, "Do, do we have the file of what's his name? Can I see it?" Five handed Klaus the file and they watched as he flipped the pages until he found the picture of Jenkins. He held it out, as if comparing it with something. He took a shaky breath before tossing it into the passenger seat.

"Well, I don't think we need to worry about the apocalypse anymore." Five glanced at him curiously.

"What do you mean?" Klaus took another breath before driving the car forwards and said,

"There's a ghost by the car. And it is definitely, a mangled Harold What's-his-face." He shuddered and Five leaned forwards. 

"Then bring him over!" Luther cast him a sharp glance and was about to cut in when Klaus gave a sharp,

"No." Five glared at him,

"What, do you mean no?"

"I mean with you in the car Five, it's too crowded and I don't want to add a mangled man to the mess." Both were taken aback at the sharpness in his voice, effectively silencing the two.

Klaus continued past the wreck, maneuvering the car through the traffic.

No one spoke, with one question hanging in the air around them; What the hell happened?

* * *

"Vanya! C'mon we need to go!" Diego reached in and grabbed Allison, trying to keep some type of pressure on her neck. He was vaguely aware of Vanya stumbling out of the car after him. She'd been silent and shaking since he'd put her in the back of the car with their sister.

In all honesty, he wasn't exactly sure what had happened.

He and Allison were chasing Peabody down the road when a blue light began to emit from the back of the truck, and it split in two. The windshield of the Hargreeves' car shattered along with the windows and Diego hit the breaks, hoping to stop them from crashing into the remains of the truck. 

They could see Vanya crawling away from the wreck, pulses of power rushing away from her. Allison was the first to approach Vanya as Diego caught sight of the groaning mess that had burst through the windshield. He caught sight of Diego and moaned out,

"Please... Help." 

Diego just stared at him, then was knocked off his feet as Vanya began to scream.

He could just make out Allison holding onto the truck, keeping herself next to their sister as she panicked. Her power surged out of her, varying in strength and Diego took hesitant steps forwards, stopping when one pushed him off his feet again.

Diego couldn't get any closer.

"Allison!" She looked at him. "You need to calm her down! You know what you need to do!" Diego hated he was suggesting this, but Vanya needed to stop panicking. 

Allison knew what he was suggesting, and shook her head vehemently.

"Damn it Three! We're running out of time! You need to do it!" She looked at him tearfully before turning her attention back to Vanya.

She seemed to say something, then Vanya let out a yell and another burst of power surged out.

Diego watched as it stopped, and Allison slumped to the side as Vanya reached out to her. He approached them and stopped short at the sight in front of him. Allison had a gash across her throat with blood pouring out as Vanya sputtered apologies, hands pressing down on the wound.

It took him less than a second to jump into action. Diego pushed Vanya aside and picked Allison up, running back to the car. He tried setting her down in the backseat without cutting her on the shards of glass before heading back to Vanya. His sister was sitting by the wreckage and staring blankly at the blood staining her hands. He led her across the road to the car and opened one of the back doors, situating Allison's head in her lap.

Diego rushed towards the driver's door and started the car. He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Vanya staring numbly ahead as she pressed down on Allison's wound while Diego stomped on the gas and sped towards the Academy.

Which led to now. 

Grace had taken one look at her children rushing into the Academy and immediately ran ahead to prep the infirmary. Diego set Allison down on the table, reapplying pressure as their Mom began examining her while Vanya hovered in the doorway and Pogo shuffled into the room.

"She's suffered a severe laceration to her larynx." Explained their Mother, "A blood transfusion is needed."

Diego was about to volunteer when Vanya stepped forwards and quietly said,

"Let me do it." She wasn't looking at any of them, her eyes glued to their unconscious sister, "I, I did this. Let me do it." Mom studied Vanya before nodding, gesturing to the seat next to her so Vanya would sit.

After taking two pints of blood, Mom unhooked Vanya and turned back to Allison. She began to remove Diego's hands and get a better look at the injury. She was stitching the gash while Pogo set up an IV to transfer Vanya's and replace what Allison lost. After he was done, Pogo turned to Diego and said,

"Grace and I have things covered here. Take care of Vanya, one of us will come get you if anything changes." Diego was about to protest, but stopped when he looked at Vanya.

Her eyes were glazed over as her hands shook, the dried blood and hospital gown did nothing for the image in front of him. So, he bit back his disagreement and instead, pulled Vanya gently from the chair and began leading her from the room. They managed to get to the door before Vanya stopped walking completely, staring at Allison.

"Hey," She turned towards Diego, "Mom's taking good care of her. We need to let her work." Vanya looked up at him vacantly before slightly nodding.

Diego wrapped an arm around her and began walking his sister out of the room. They went to one of the bathrooms near their childhood rooms and Diego set her on the toilet before rummaging around for a clean towel. He eventually found one and held it under a stream of warm water in the sink, wetting it thoroughly before reaching for one of Vanya's hands. Diego gently wiped at the dried and crusted blood that had accumulated across Vanya's skin, scraping it off his own hands when he was done. 

He then led Vanya back to the bedrooms, stopping when she let out a wounded noise. Diego glanced over at what had gotten her attention; Klaus' room. He let out a sigh, squeezed his eyes shut, then reached out to close the door. Vanya shrank further into his side once it was shut and Diego wrapped her in a tight embrace. They stood silently for a while before Diego led Vanya to Allison's room.

The bag he'd packed earlier that week was still in the corner. He rummaged through it, finding an extra set of clothes and handing them to Vanya. Once she was changed, Diego led her down the hall to his room. It may not have been the most homey one, but he felt better leaving her there instead of Klaus or Allison's room. Diego maneuvered her onto the bed, getting a strong case of deja vu as he pulled the covers over Vanya.

"Vanya?" She stared straight ahead, "I uh. I need to grab something from the car. It won't take to long and I'll be back in a few minutes." Vanya gave no response that she'd heard him. He squeezed her shoulder, promising to be quick before exiting the room.

His eyes burned and his vision blurred, causing Diego to swipe at his face. No wasn't the time. He just wanted to grab his knives from the car, then check on his sisters. Simple as that.

Or it should have been.

He just didn't expect, _Hazel,_ of all people to be standing in the foyer.

The next few seconds were a blur.

One moment, Diego was on the stairs, and the next he was in front of Hazel. Bludgeoning him with his fists.

With all the rage from the past 24 hours that Diego had pent up inside, Hazel didn't stand a chance. He needed a miracle to get out of the fight alive.

He was on his back as Diego rain down blow after blow, showing no signs of stopping until the door opened.

Five and Luther stared in shock at the scene in front of them, but Diego paid no mind. But what did catch his attention was the high-pitched whistle followed by,

"Christ on a cracker D!"

He froze, unmoving. That voice. It sounded like...

No. 

It couldn't be...

But then who...

Diego finally looked up, and saw someone who not even a full day ago, was dead. 

"Klaus?" 


	20. Bad Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bad decisions, just like the title says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Injury, mention torture and suffocation.

This, this isn't possible.

There's no way that this is happening.

Because standing in front of Diego was Klaus.

Klaus who was dead.

Klaus who had dried blood and bits of brain in his hair the last time Diego saw him.

Klaus who was staring wide-eyed at Diego as he stood above Hazel with bloodied knuckles.

Klaus who was now squeezed tightly in his embrace as Diego cried into his shoulder. He didn't say anything about the tears soaking his vest, Klaus just returned the gesture, holding on just as tight.

"Thought you were dead!" Diego chocked out and Klaus let out a small laugh,

"Was dead." He pulled away from Klaus, gripping his shoulders,

"W-wha-what?"

Luther stepped forwards, "Apparently Klaus can annoy the hell out of an ancient deity. He got booted right out of the afterlife." Diego glanced at Klaus in shock as his brother nodded.

"Yeah, had a lovely chat with dad, and by lovely I mean awful, horrible, may need therapy after but anyway!" He waved his hand, silencing Diego's questions, "Is, is Vanya here? She with you? We were looking for her but couldn't find her then but we found the guy responsible for the apocalypse, what was left of him anyway. And and we thought he had Vanya-"

"Klaus!" He cut off, looking at Diego sharply, "Vanya's here. And Allison. They're both..." He doesn't know what to say. Okay was not the right word. Saying they were good would be a fucking lie.

His brothers noticed his hesitation and Five looked about ready to call him out, when a groan filled the air. The Hargreeves turned as Hazel pulled himself to his feet. He looked at the three of them with noticeable apprehension on his face. It was a four-way stand off for a moment until the shuffling footsteps of Pogo approached them from the stairs. 

The chimp paused, caught off guard at the sight before him. Diego felt nothing but worry. 

"Pogo?" He cast a puzzled glance at Hazel before turning to Diego,

"Grace has almost finished with Allison. She's, not entirely sure when your sister will wake, unfortunately." Luther looked between the two in panicked confusion,

"'Almost finished with Allison' what does..? What the hell happened?" Pogo sighed and turned to Diego.

"Perhaps, you should take your brothers upstairs."

"You go on ahead. I think Hazel and I need to speak." Five motioned at Hazel to follow him into the other room, but both were stopped at a sharp voice.

"Master Five! Whatever you have to say to this man can wait!" Pogo held up a hand to silence Five, "And if I'm not mistaken, this is one of the two who broke into the house and tortured Master Klaus?" Hazel sputtered, but after Pogo cast a glare at him, the man hung his head and muttered a quiet,

"Yeah." Causing Pogo to nod and turn back to Five,

"I'll stay with our guest. I need to have a few words with him as well." The finality in his tone left no room for argument. 

Five pursed his lips and jerkily nodded before turning to Diego,

"Lead the way."

* * *

Vanya tread quietly out into the hall. Diego said he would be right back.

How long ago had that been?

She looked down towards the closed door and let out a sob.

Klaus.

Klaus was...

She was outside.

When had she gotten here?

Vanya was standing in the courtyard where Luther had dumped their father's ashes earlier that week. Had the funeral really been just a few days ago?

She shook her head, trying to rid it of the fog that had settled behind her eyes. Vanya then turned her attention the memorial that stood a few feet away.

Ben.

Klaus was gone and they'd lost Ben a second time.

And Allison wasn't far behind.

Three siblings gone because of her. 

She cried out as she stumbled forwards, knees hitting the ground before the statue. Vanya placed both hands on the plaque, tracing the words as tears cascaded down her face and blurred her vision.

"I'm sorry!" Vanya cried, "I'm sorry Ben! It's my fault I'm sorry!"

Unseen beside her, Ben reached out. Faltering only when his hand went through her shoulder as he cried with Vanya.

* * *

The beeping of a heart monitor was the only sound as Grace snipped the end of the stitches and placed a bandage over Allison's throat. She turned towards them as the brothers entered the infirmary.

"How i-is she?" Diego asked quietly,

"Her vocal chords were severely damaged, it's a miracle her carotid artery wasn't damaged." Grace turned back to Allison, smoothing some of her curls away from her face, "It's to early to tell if she'll be able to talk again." Luther walked forwards in a haze, all he could focus on was the woman laying in the bed in front of him.

Allison's skin was pale and if it weren't for the heart monitor, he'd think she was dead. He sat heavily in the chair next to her bed, reaching out and gripping her hand gently. Luther could hear the others talking, but couldn't make out what they were saying. Everything sounded as if he was underwater.

There was the sound of high heels against the floor (was Grace leaving? What if Allison needed her?!) as his brothers spoke.

Five asked a question.

Diego answered.

Klaus said something.

Diego replied.

Five shouted before kicking the door and Klaus flinched as Diego shook his head.

Diego kept talking.

He faltered, Luther noticed but kept his attention mostly on Allison.

Until something his brother said shocked him to the core.

"It was Vanya."

Vanya?

Klaus shuddered and Five swore, letting Luther know he'd heard right.

Five muttered something before blinking out of the room, leaving him with Klaus and Diego. Both seemed hesitant to approach him. Luther took a shuddering breath, squeezed Allison's hand, then stood up and turned to Klaus.

"Stay with her." He shouldered past the two, pausing when someone gripped his arm.

"Luther," It was Diego, "Mom's checking over Vanya right now. Please just, wait until they're both..." His brother trialed off, staring at Klaus as he took a seat next to Allison before turning back to Luther.

"Just wait." Luther's only response was a tight nod before yanking his arm out of Diego's grip and walked out of the room.

He didn't know where he was going. He should've stayed with Allison.

Luther kept walking.

He ambled through the halls, his attention skewed while thoughts whirled around his head.

Vanya did this. Vanya. The one Allison stood in front of protectively when he was about to cross a line with a question. The one Allison fought to make sure was safe when Hazel and Cha-Cha broke in. The one Allison calmed down after revealing her powers by accident. She hurt Allison.

Why?

After everything Allison had done for her, why would Vanya do this?

He was so wrapped up in his head that Luther almost bowled over Pogo in his angry walk.

"I, sorry Pogo-" "It's all right, you have a lot on your mind." Luther sighed,

"Was this, has something like this happened before?" Pogo glanced at him quizzically, "Vanya hurting someone with her powers. Is that why Dad hid them?"

"Vanya is the one who injured Ms. Allison?" Questioned Pogo,

"Diego didn't tell you?" The chimp shook his head,

"We were more focused on keeping her alive than who caused it." He let out a tired sigh, "But to answer your question, yes, there were accidents when Vanya was a child. Prompting your Father to build Grace, but I could not tell you what the deciding factor for taking away her power. Reginald Hargreeves was many things, forthright was not one of them." Pogo began walking past Luther, but paused when he asked,

"How? How was he able to keep this a secret from her? What did he do to contain her?" 

Pogo didn't look at him, but hung his head with a heavy sigh. Then motioned for Luther to follow him. He led Luther to an old elevator that stood in the back of the mansion. 

Luther remembered running past it as a child so many times, remembered being told it was broken and led to nothing but an empty cellar. He turned to Pogo, confused at the somber expression plastered across his face.

"Your father built a chamber beneath the house, designed specifically for her. Blocking her powers. When she was a child, your father utilized Ms. Allison's rumor, making Vanya believe she was ordinary, erasing any thoughts or memory of power from her." Pogo explained, "The chamber, is anechoic. No sound in or out. That is how your father controlled your sister."

Pogo sighed again before turning away, heading down the hall and left Luther to his thoughts. 

A chamber.

A place that could contain Vanya.

Was it a good idea? Putting Vanya there?

He shook his head, first things first: Find Vanya, determine her state of mind then go from there.

He began to walk away from the elevator, deciding to search the bedrooms first for Vanya, but stopped at the sound of footsteps thundering down the steps.

"-ent to check on her, but Vanya wasn't in any of the rooms!" It was Diego, "I'm gonna check Ben's room, you check Five's. Meet back here afterwards." His brother's footsteps raced past him as Diego headed to Ben's room. 

Vanya was missing?

Did she leave? Run away because of the guilt of what she'd done? He needed to find out.

Luther began scouring the rooms on the first floor, trying to remember any place Vanya would go when they were kids. He only came up with her room, and Klaus knocked down the wall between their rooms to give himself more space when she left for college. So no, Luther had no idea where Vanya would go.

After searching for about twenty minutes, Luther noticed the door leading out to the courtyard was open and was letting in the chilly spring air into the mansion. He stepped through the door and glanced around, barely believing he'd been out there only a few days ago to say goodbye to Dad. It felt longer. Luther shook himself and stepped fully through the door, noticing the small figure hunched against Ben's statue.

Vanya.

She didn't notice him approach, but Luther was extremely hesitant. There was a blue shimmer around her hands with cracks forming in the foundation. Maybe he should get Diego or Klaus, one of them could probably handle this better than him. But what if she hurt them like she did Allison?

"Luther?" Vanya was looking up at him with a broken expression.

"Vanya." He stepped forwards, stopping about a foot in front of her, "What're you doing out here?" 

"I, I was looking for Diego."

"And, you came out here?" Vanya shrugged, turning back to the plaque on the statue. 

Luther chanced a closer step towards her.

"Vanya, what happened? With Allison?" She took a sharp breath and more cracks appeared.

"I, don't know." She choked out, "I was panicking, then I, I just. I think she tried to rumor me? I don't know, she was, she just... I don't know, I just..." Vanya was breathing heavily and the wind was wiping around them faster and violently. 

Luther didn't think, just walked forwards and grabbed Vanya by the shoulders. He pulled her up, wrapping his arms around her. He could feel her weakly gripping back as his shirt became damp with her tears.

She was stammering apologies into his stomach as he tightened his grip.

"Luther, you're hurting me..."

"I'm sorry too Vanya." He whispered,

("Luther what are you doing?!? Let her go!" Ben screamed)

"Please... stop..." He could feel vibrations running through his sister as the ground began to shake and Ben's statue creaked, falling to the ground with a crash.

It was the last noise before everything stopped and Vanya went limp. Luther quickly picked her up, making sure she didn't fall to the ground before walking back inside. He could hear the quick footsteps of his brother's as they ran outside. They would fight him on this, but Vanya needed to be contained until she could control herself.

With that in mind, he headed back towards the elevator with his small sister in his arms. As they descended, he glanced down at Vanya. Was she always that small? Was her neck bruising already? Luther shook himself as the elevator came to a stop. He stepped out, immediately seeing the door to the chamber.

His father certainly didn't take percussions when it came to Vanya.

The door was already open, so he gently set her down in the center of the room and stepped out. Luther closed the door and stepped back towards the elevator, but stopped. Leaving her in there was bad enough, should he leave her alone? After everything that's happened?

He was alone for four years, but he had more freedom on the moon than that small room. 

Luther must've stood there longer than he expected, because when he looked back, Vanya was standing up and banging on the door. She was crying. He was over three feet away and he could see she was crying. 

The elevator stood open, ready to take him back up to the house. 

Keeping her there until she could control herself, was a way to keep her and they others safe. But leaving her here alone...

Luther sighed and closed the elevator door, then turned back to the door.

Vanya looked at him hopeful as he reentered the room, but her face shattered when he sat on the stairs. She resumed slamming her fists against the door, yelling at him. Luther couldn't hear her.

("Luther let her out!" Sobbed Ben, "Luther please you can't leave Vanya in there!")

This is precautionary, Luther reminded himself, it's not permanent.

Vanya continued to throw herself against the door, causing Luther to look away and grit his teeth.

It's. Not. Permanent. 


	21. The White Violin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vanya breaks free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Dissociation, mentioned death

SLAM!

BANG!

"LET ME OUT! PLEASE!"

Vanya continued to throw herself against the door but to no avail. Luther had shut the door, it wouldn't have surprised her if only he could get it open again. 

But she didn't dwell on that. All Vanya could focus on was repeating the motion of throwing herself against the door in a feeble attempt to get out. The window was dirty, but she could still see Luther sitting in the room beyond the prison. 

Why was he still there? He wasn't going to let her out anytime soon, so why stay?

It was getting harder for her to breathe.

The cuts on her back stung with every time they brushed against the shirt Diego had given her.

Diego.

Where was he?

Did he know what happened?

Was he looking for her?

Vanya resumed pounding her fists against the door, causing her knuckles to split and bleed. Luther was staring in again, but he made no move to let her out, he was just sitting there. 

"LUTHER! LET ME OUT!" She slid down to her knees, fists still pressed against the glass, "Please..."

"They're still afraid of us." Vanya gasped, stumbling back from the door.

Instead of seeing Luther on the other side of the glass, she saw a child. Not just any child, it was _HER!_

"Even after all these years, they're still afraid of what we can do. Our power." Vanya began shaking her head, "They'll leave us locked in here forever."

"No, no! Diego he-" She gasped out, "He'll be looking. He said he would come back!"

"Why would he?" Scoffed the younger her, "Klaus is dead because of us. Leonard killed him because he was looking for us! Why would Diego try to find us if we're the reason he's lost his two favorite siblings?"

"Allison-" "Could be dead." Vanya let out a loud sob, "She'll never see Claire again and that's because of us."

"They'll. Never. Let. Us. Out."

Vanya cried out, slamming her hands against the door.

Something was wrong. 

Other than arguing with her subconscious, Vanya couldn't breath. Her lungs burned with every breath, she couldn't breathe!

_ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum_

She needed to get out!

_Ba-dum Ba-dum Ba-dum_

Luther wasn't going to budge, she couldn't even tell if he was still there.

_BA-dum BA-dum BA-dum_

No one was coming. It was up to her.

_BA-DUM BA-DUM BA-DUM_

Her vision flared white.

* * *

Luther stumbled out of the elevator as dust crumbled from the ceiling and the house began to shake. He glanced around before shutting the elevator door behind him then darting down the hall, trying to find the others. 

He'd thought she had calmed down. Vanya had stopped pounding on the door and was just standing there. Luther had been about to open the door when her eyes snapped towards him and cracks began forming in the glass. What had startled him the most was her eyes.

Gone were the doe brown eyes of his smallest sibling, instead there were startling white that had taken residence in her face. 

That was when Luther felt everything shake and ran towards the elevator. The last thing he saw before the doors closed was Vanya taking down the entire wall of the chamber, white eyes staring at him, expressionless.

Now he was running through the house, trying to find the others. He found Diego first.

Or well, Diego ran into him.

He stumbled to the ground while Luther remained upright. Diego smacked away the hand Luther offered before righting himself and glaring. He was about to say something when the sound of a door opening cut him off. The shaking stopped as quiet footsteps began echoing across the hall as Vanya rounded the corner. She stared at them with her startling white eyes, head tilted as if studying them.

Diego took a step towards her, then they were both thrown back.

* * *

This was strange.

In a way, Vanya was aware of what she was doing, but at the same time, it was as if she was watching someone else.

Is this what an out of body experience is?

This actually reminded her of the dissociative episodes she used to have after the incident. The difference was she seemed unable to come out of it.

After blowing down the door, she wondered were Luther was for a moment. Questioning if he had been crushed by the door, only to blink and realize she was riding the elevator up to the main floor. 

It opened, allowing Vanya (was this her, or some dream? She was watching herself walk while also driving her own body.) to step out. She walked towards the main hall, unsure as to why, then Vanya saw them: Luther and Diego. 

Diego took a step towards her, then her vision flashed white again.

_leftusthereleftusthereleftusthere(hurting him!)LEFTUSTHERELEFTUSTHERELEF-_

"Ms. Vanya!" Pogo, "That's quite enough!" He was standing across from her with a look of disappointment ~~_(fear)_~~ on his face.

She was walking towards him as he backed away into the main room. Pogo didn't take his eyes off her as she approached. 

Vanya could hear movement behind her, but it was getting farther away from her. She didn't need to worry about that now. Her attention was on Pogo.

"I understand you're upset. But your siblings knew nothing about this! Your father discovered that like your siblings you were capable of-" "Did you tell him." Vanya had more clarity in that moment, "About the cage?"

"Ms. Vanya, I..."

"Did you tell Luther, about the cage?" He stared at Vanya for a moment, then hung his head with a sigh and said,

"Yes, Ms. Vanya. I told your brother about the chamber." 

Vanya glanced down, squeezing her eyes shut as she felt something build up under her skin. She finally looked up at him. Vanya's last conscious thought before her vision flashed was _'why?'_

There was a sickening thud, but Vanya paid no mind as she turned towards the door.

Someone was calling for her.

She ignored it.

There was a crash as she walked down the street.

Her apartment door was in front of her. Why was she here?

She was in her room. The closet was open and she caught sight of her suit hanging there.

The concert.

That's today isn't it?

It was in her hand. 

The hanger was empty and now Vanya stood in front of the mirror, fully dressed. She looked around, spotting her violin sitting in the corner.

It was in her hand. 

She turned, ready to head out of the door when she noticed something on the floor.

Blood. 

Dried blood.

It was spattered on the kitchen floor and on the cabinets.

Klaus.

Klaus died here.

He's gone and it's her fault.

Something was shaking. Was it her or the room? She needed to stop.

She...

She...

She was on a bus. When had she gotten here?

White danced across her vision as she stood up. Was this her stop? Didn't she just get on? 

Icarus theater loomed in front of her. People were already entering, she was late.

Musicians were staring as she started tuning her violin. Helen Cho, the first chair, glanced at her with a raised brow. 

She was on stage, third chair. 

Her vision began to clear as she played. Music always managed to focus her.

Then she saw them.

She saw Allison first. Her sister was walking down the aisle, eyes fixated on her as a smile appeared on her face. Vanya felt herself smile back.

Diego was behind her. Vanya felt dread fill her, was he angry? She felt the white start to take over her again, so she turned back to the notes in front of her. 

(She looked away to fast. She didn't see Klaus walking behind Diego or the way his hands start shimmering blue. She didn't see Ben's outline appear next to them.)

The white was starting to fade, but then she felt it. She could feel the vibrations from the footsteps of her largest brother.

Luther was charging towards her.

As he drew closer, Vanya felt the white flare up and she lashed out.

Everything was a blur after that.

She could feel herself play.

The music was flowing, it was a part of her. The way it moved through her, the way it sang as she manipulated it. 

This was the most alive she'd felt in... ever.

The pills had numbed her. 

The incident had caused her worry, the argument had caused her to start taking the pills again. 

Now, every part of her was singing out. Her powers buzzed with energy and everything was so _bright!_

Everything was _loud!_

Everything...

Everything...

Vanya felt her powers extending out, as if holding something. 

It was another part of her.

Something was on the other end of her tether.

Multiple things where on the other end.

She tried clearing her head, tried seeing beyond the veil of white that was covering her senses. 

Her brothers.

She could see them.

It was blurry, almost fuzzy.

They seemed in pain.

Was she hurting them? 

She was hurting them!

How does she stop?

The white was threatening to take over again, she didn't know if she could fight it this time.

Something was behind her. 

There was the click of a gun.

Oh god. 

Please, save them-

_BANG!_

Everything went dark. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be longer, and will be the end of season one.


	22. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The apocalypse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Violence, panic attack, PTSD, murder

Pain.

That was the first thing Allison was aware of. 

Second was someone muttering and groaning in frustration.

She opened her eyes, blinking away the bleariness that clouded her vision, hands moving towards her throat. It was the current source of pain.

"Hey hey hey, Allison! Don't touch that!" Hands pulled at hers, gently removing them from her neck.

Allison glanced over, trying to see who was with her. 

"There you are!" How was... "Glad to see you awake! Had us really worried there for a moment."

This, this was not possible. The person next to her, was Klaus.

Klaus who was in a body bag the last time she saw him. 

Oh god. Was she dead?!

Her brother seemed to realize what she was thinking, because he took one of her hands and pressed it against the pulse point in his neck. Allowing her to feel the steady thrum of his pulse.

He was alive.

He's alive!

Tears sprang to her eyes as she tried to push herself up into a sitting position. Klaus helped her up, allowing her to embrace him tightly as she cried into his shoulder. Her brother was rubbing soothing circles on her back, allowing her to let out all the pent up emotions of the past few days.

"Missed you too." He whispered.

They clung to each other, not letting go until there was the sound of footsteps approaching the infirmary. Allison removed her face from Klaus' shoulder to see Diego standing in the doorway. He paused, taking in the scene in front of him before smiling softly and entering the room.

"Glad to see you awake." He said, "Scared us there for a moment. We thought you weren't going to make it." 

She smiled, then frowned. Allison opened her mouth, trying to speak but Klaus stopped her.

"Mom said your vocal chords were severed, you won't be able to talk for a while." Klaus explained as Diego looked around. His eyes fell on a pad of paper sitting on the counter with a pen next to it. He reached out and grabbed it, handing it to Allison.

"Here, use this." She took the paper and shakily wrote out,

 _'Vanya?'_ Her brothers glanced at each other, seemingly hesitant to respond. She huffed and circled her sister's name, tapping it with the pen.

Diego sighed and said, "We don't know." Causing her to glance between the two, horrified.

"She was in my room, Mom went to check on her but couldn't find her. Klaus and I searched the rooms but..." He shook his head "No sign."

"Yeah, and Five fucked off somewhere and Luther disappeared as well." Sighed Klaus, "Should we be worried about that? I mean, it was after you said Vanya was the one who, well..." He traced a finger across his throat, causing Diego to lightly smack his shoulder. 

_'Does Ben know where she is?'_ Allison asked, tapping the paper to grab their attention.

Klaus visibly deflated at the question and turned away.

"He, hasn't seen Ben." Diego explained, "But you're still trying, right?" 

"Oh, yeah it's just... I'm still trying." He gave them a tight smile before returning to his chair.

They watched as he clenched his fists and the familiar blue light encompassed them. Allison felt her eyes droop as Diego sat next to her on the bed, allowing her to rest her head against his shoulder. She fought sleep, not wanting to miss anything that was happening, not wanting to miss anything. Diego noticed her struggle and pulled the blankets up, telling her to get some rest. She was on the brink of sleep when Klaus let out a shout and jumped out of his chair.

She watched as he leapt at thin air, silently gasping when he crashed to the ground. Both her and Diego scrambled to see if he was okay.

Klaus was crying, sobbing as he shouted "You bastard! You scared me I thought you left!" 

It took them a moment, but they were able to see the blue form of Ben that Klaus had knocked to the ground and was currently bear-hugging. Diego quickly stood up and walked over, pulling the two of them up. Allison shakily got up from the bed, joining in on wrapping her arms around her brothers, tears beginning to leak from her eyes again.

"As much as I love the group hug, we have a problem." They all took a step back, Diego keeping a hand on Allison so she wouldn't topple over, "Pogo told Luther about the chamber!"

"Wait, chamber?" Klaus asked,

"The anechoic chamber! The one dad wrote about in his notes! The one he-" "Put Vanya in when we were kids." Diego finished as Ben nodded, "Where?"

"That elevator, the one we were always told was broken." Ben explained, "It's the entrance." Diego took a breath then said,

"Alright I'll go get Vanya, the three of you head out to the car. We'll go to my place until we can figure something out." Diego fished his keys out of his pocket and handed them to Klaus, "If I'm not at the car in five minutes Ben, you come look for me. Alright?" Allison shook her head, writing on the pad,

 _'Getting her with you!'_ Allison underlined and circled with, hopefully getting her point across to Diego.

"Allison, we don't know what Luther will do, and no offence," He gestured to her shirt, "You need to change."

She looked down and...

Oh, her shirt was covered in blood.

Klaus had run to her room, grabbing a clean shirt and jacket for her to change into. Diego went in search of Vanya once he came back. 

Ben had already faded from existence as Klaus helped Allison through the halls, stumbling as everything began to shake. Dust crumbled around them when everything settled, allowing Allison to share a glance with Klaus. They walked forwards cautiously, then they heard it.

Someone crying out in pain. 

Diego.

The siblings raced forwards onto the stairs landing and froze. Luther was on his back next to the chandelier while Diego was being pinned to the wall about two feet off the ground.

By Vanya.

She was speaking quietly, but they could hear her loud and clear from where they were standing. She kept saying,

"You left me there."

Their brother was trying to speak, but the force of Vanya's powers kept him from doing so. Allison was about to run forwards when she heard Pogo's voice,

"Ms. Vanya, that is enough!" They watched as she turned, Diego dropping to the floor with a dull thud as Vanya headed into the main room after Pogo.

Luther stood up as Klaus ran past him and began to help Diego up. Allison shrugged Luther's hand away when he tried to help her walk, opting to head towards Diego.

He looked dazed, blood running out of his nose and a small trail of it slipping out of his ear. It took both Allison and Klaus to help him up and they began walking him towards the door. 

Then there was a noise. A sick, squishing crunch of bones breaking and blood spattering. Allison saw Luther's face turn pale before he turned back, pulling them out of the foyer towards the kitchen.

Pieces of the ceiling began raining down as Klaus called out for their sister, but his cries fell on deaf ears. Their brother grabbed him by the collar of his vest, pulling him back and forcing them out of the foyer. The siblings stumbled through the kitchen, Diego being supported by Luther as he ushered them through the alley door.

The mansion started falling behind them once they made it outside and Allison caught sight of someone that made her eyes widen: Mom. She made no move to turn away from the window she was looking out. Their Mother just smiled softly before blowing them a kiss, before she fell from view. 

Someone pulled Allison back as the last of the house collapsed, shielding her from the falling debris. She had to stop herself from coughing at the dust floating through the air. They walked forwards in shock, none of them knew what to say, The Academy was in ruins around them. 

"Mom? Mom!" Diego shouldered past her, "Klaus, come here help me look!" He began digging through the rubble, throwing back the rocks in his frantic search. Klaus stepped forwards, pulling him up,

"Diego, Diego stop-" "Let go of me-" "Stop STOP!" Diego finally looked up at Klaus "She's, she's gone, Diego. I'm sorry but she's..." Their brother glared at him,

"So wh-what yo- you-ou just wan-wanna walk away from this?" Allison stepped forwards, placing a hand on his shoulder as Luther approached them.

"Vanya killed Pogo also." They stared at him in disbelief, "Right before we got out, she threw him across the room." Klaus was shaking his head,

"No, no Vanya wouldn't... She wouldn't-" "She did Klaus. I saw it!" 

Diego shoved his way between the two, stopping Luther from stepping into Klaus' space as Allison tried pulling him away. The tense atmosphere was broken at the sound of something scrambling towards them.

Five.

The smallest Hargreeves scrambled over the ruins to them, calling for their attention.

"Guys! This is it! The apocalypse is still on!" He brandished a newspaper in their faces, "This newspaper, I found in the future the day I got stuck. The headline hasn't changed!" 

"I thought, I thought that Harold guy was the one who caused it?" Klaus asked and Five shook his head,

"I was wrong! Alright! Jenkins doesn't cause the apocalypse! He was just a catalyst in the equation, Vanya is the bomb!"

They looked at him shocked, not fully believing what he was saying. The whirlwind of thoughts was broken at the sound of sirens approaching.

"We need to get out of here!" Diego said, "Regroup at Superstar!"

* * *

The siblings sat around each other, surrounded by the sound of squeaks and pins being knocked over.

Five was checking over Diego, making sure his eardrum hadn't burst from when Vanya had him against the wall.

"Alright, I think you'll be okay." He said, sitting down with a sigh as Luther stood up.

"Guys, I hate to be the one who says it, but we need to prepare." That gained their attention.

"For what?" Snarled Diego,

"To stop Vanya." Allison smacked him with her notepad, scribbling a message quickly.

 _'She's our sister!!'_ Luther sighed, looking at her almost pityingly,

"We may not have a choice Allison."

"Bullshit Luther!" Klaus snapped, "Weren't you the one who told Pogo that there's always a choice?" 

"That, that was different-" "Why because we were talking about dad?" Luther stared at Klaus in disbelief.

"Dad was right Klaus! Her powers are too dangerous! We need to either contain-" "And that went so well for you last time!" Diego said.

Five looked between them curiously as Allison stepped forwards, ready to intervein if necessary.

"You tried to 'contain' her already! And look what happened!-" "Already?" They turned to look at Five,

"What does Diego mean by 'already'?" 

Luther looked down and away, not answering as Klaus shook his head.

"Not willing to share, Number One? Ben saw what you did!" The cold tone of Klaus' voice sent each sibling a step back, "She trusted you! And you fucking suffocated her until she was unconscious! Then you left her in that, that, that cell!" Luther sputtered,

"I, I didn't leave her-" "But you put her there." Interrupted Diego, "Doesn't matter if you left her or not. You put her in there when she needed help." 

He took a step towards Luther, standing toe to toe with him.

"I don't blame Vanya for what happened at The Academy. For Mom, or Pogo. Hell I don't even blame her what happened with Allison-" "She nearly killed Allison! And your saying you don't blame her?!" Five jumped between the two, separating them.

"We don't have time for this!" he seethed, pushing the brothers apart, "It doesn't matter who blames Vanya for what. Luther's right, we need to be ready. We can't set the fate of the world aside for one person."

Allison vigorously shook her head waving her pad in front of Five's face, but he simply sighed. Five put a hand on her writing and pushed it away, looking sorrowful.

"I'm sorry Allison, but like Luther said: We may not have a choice." 

She clenched her fists and stormed away. Stopping herself from doing something she would regret, like slapping Five. Allison sat heavily at one of the tables, head in her hands. The two chairs on either side of her slid out as Diego and Klaus sat down. Klaus wrapped his arms around her, resting his head on her should while Diego gripped her hand. Allison knew their chances of surviving were low, but there was something she needed to do. She reached for her notepad, and wrote a message for the two brother's beside her.

 _'Can you do something for me?'_

The siblings squished themselves into the phone booth outside the bowling alley as Allison dialed a familiar number. She handed the phone to her brothers as it rang and started getting teary-eyed when a familiar voice picked up.

"Hello?" Diego's eyes widened at the high-pitched voice on the other end as he realized what Allison wanted them to do.

"Hey Claire? It's your Uncle Diego." There was a gasp of excitement,

"Kraken!"

"Yeah, hey kiddo! I've also got your Uncle Klaus and Mom here with me." Diego smiled at the phone as Klaus said,

"Hi Claire!"

"Uncle Klaus?"

"That's right!" Klaus giggled as Claire squealed in excitement,

"And Mom's there too?!" Allison stepped forwards but stopped and looked down. Her brothers noticed and were quick to say,

"Yeah Kiddo, your Mom's here but she uh..." "She got sick!" They glanced at Klaus, "And her throat is all sore so she can't talk right now. But Uncle Diego and I promise she's here!"

Allison began to write down on the pad of paper, holding it out for her brothers to read. 

"Your Mom's got a message for you Claire. You ready?" Diego asked, they all smiled as Claire let out a loud

"Yeah!"

"Alright Kiddo here we go." Diego turned his head so he could read the paper while holding the phone between him and Klaus, "Your Mom says, 'I love you, I can't wait to see you again and'- shoot!" Allison had turned the page, prepared to write more, but had accidently dropped it with how badly her hands were shaking.

Diego tried catching it, but ended up bumping heads with Klaus instead and it was kicked across the cramped space as the siblings scrambled to reach it. Allison began to cry, not talking to Claire was hard enough but this? This was just the icing on the cake. She was shaking by the force of her sobs and it caught the attention of her brothers. Diego wrapped an arm around her shoulders and Klaus took the phone from him, resuming to speak with Claire.

"She says 'I'm counting down the days till I see you again. I miss you so much and wish I could be with you right now. But even though I'm not, I'm thinking about you." Allison grabbed his hand, prompting Klaus to continue, "I'm always thinking about you. Every day is a day closer to seeing you again, and I cannot wait to see you again. I miss you so much, and I hope that you never forget how much I love you." Allison squeezed Klaus' hand as he gave her a sad smile.

"Mom really said that?" Claire's voice filled the booth,

"Yeah kiddo," Answered Diego, "Your Mom really said that." There was a short second of silence before she asked,

"Is Mommy still listening?" 

"Your Mom's here Claire. She's still listening." Klaus replied,

"Okay. I love you too Mom, and don't worry, I won't forget you. Or that you love me. I miss you too." She began crying harder, "Did she hear me?"

"She did Claire." The brother's said their goodbyes to the little girl as they hung up, both holding onto their sister as she cried. 

(Ben watched the three with a small smile on his face, wishing he could join but also not wanting to interrupt.)

Diego pulled away first, opening the door and stepping out of the booth. The other two followed him, Allison wiping at the tears on her face. Klaus grabbed her notepad from the ground and handed it to her as Diego said,

"We should go back inside, before Luther does anything else stupid."

Klaus wrapped his arm around Allison as they walked back into the bowling alley. Luther was sitting were they left him, newspaper in hand, alone. Five was no where to be seen. Their brother glanced up at them before showing a page in the paper, pointing at the headline.

"Isn't this Vanya's orchestra?" They nodded, "She's probably there then."

"Alright." Diego said, "What's the plan?" Luther looked at him, stunned then said,

"We, go to Icarus Theater..." He trailed off.

"And... Then what?" Questioned Klaus as Diego sighed roughly,

"That's a location not a plan! Look, you want to be Number One so badly, you better start acting like it! " Luther was about to retort when he was cut off by the sound of gunfire.

A group of people dressed in black and wearing what appeared to be gas masks stormed in wielding machine guns. The Hargreeves took cover behind the shelf of bowling balls as the bullets whizzed overhead. 

"Who the hell are these guys?" Shouted Diego,

"Maybe they're here for the birthday!" Klaus replied

"No, I'm pretty sure they're here for us." Luther peeked over the shelf then immediately ducked back down, "They have the exit covered!"

"What do we do?" 

Allison glanced around, feeling useless without her voice.

There!

She tapped on Luther's shoulder and pointed forwards.

"The lanes! we can get out that way-" "How?" Diego asked, "We'll be shot down before we get half-way!"

So this was it? This is were they die? A bowling alley shot down by masked gunman? Allison was happy she at least got to hear Claire's voice one last time. The gunshots drew closer when Klaus yelled out,

"You sure?" What was he doing? "Alright. We're gonna have to make a run for it! Get ready!" What?

What the hell was-

"Go!" Klaus took off down the lanes as someone started screaming. 

Multiple people were screaming.

She darted forwards, glancing back for a split second and seeing Ben standing were they had been crouching. He was letting the Horror loose on the gunmen, throwing them in different directions and tearing one in half. Allison turned forwards, diving through the pins and landing behind the lanes. 

Klaus was crouching a few feet away from her, fists clenched and blue. What worried Allison was the wide-eyed look he had, swinging his head around and flinching at every scream that came from through the wall. Diego and Luther came through their own lanes, calling for them to hurry as they ran past. Allison grabbed Klaus, hauling him to his feet and pulling him after their brothers. The siblings kept running until they were two blocks away, stumbling to a halt and catching their breath.

Allison grabbed Klaus' hands, prying his fists open. Klaus glanced up at her, mouth twitching slightly as Diego walked up to them.

"You alright?" He asked, kneeling next to them with a look of concern as Klaus nodded,

"Oh, you know. Flash backs, PTSD, trying to differentiate between now and not real. But yeah I'm good." Klaus clapped Diego on the shoulder, "Hey where'd Five go?" They turned to Luther, waiting for an explanation.

Their brother sighed then said, "I don't know. He just, blinked out before you guys came back in."

"Did he say were he was going?" Asked Diego as he stood up,

"No," Luther shook his head, "He just left." 

Klaus groaned and stood up, helping Allison to her feet.

"Then what the hell are we going to do?" Luther took that as his cue to step forwards,

"Stop Vanya, whatever it takes."

* * *

The siblings burst through the theater doors as they arrived at Icarus, music greeting them from the concert hall. Luther tried taking charge, but stopped when Allison stepped in front of him, holding her hand out to keep him from going any further.

"Allison? I can't let you go in there alone-" "She won't be." Diego stepped around him, followed by Klaus.

Luther looked between the three of them, sighed then stepped back.

"Five minutes. Any longer then I'm going in." They didn't waste another second.

Allison rushed through the closed doors with her brothers behind her, ignoring the looks given to them by the ushers and audience members. She walked down the aisle, searching for Vanya in the sea of musicians on stage, breath catching in her throat as she finally caught sight of her.

Vanya was sitting near the back of the violins, but Allison could see her clearly. Her dark locks blended in with the suit she was wearing and her eyes flickered back and forth on the page in front of her. She stepped farther down the aisle, not stopping when Vanya caught sight of her and couldn't help the smile that fell on her face. Her heart lifted when she smiled back, but it dropped slightly when Vanya frowned, turning back to her music sharply.

Maybe she was trying to focus better?

The siblings inched closer to the stage, then everything went wrong.

Luther came charging out of backstage, setting Vanya off.

Allison watched in horror as he was thrown into the audience as the crowd began screaming and running out of the theater. 

Vanya continued playing.

The doors burst open again as the gunmen from the bowling alley walked in, aiming at the siblings in the audience. 

They ducked, hiding among the empty seats, trying not to get hit. Diego took aim, throwing knives at them, but it wasn't enough. More kept coming.

Luther managed to crawl his way over to them, wincing at the heated glare Allison sent him.

"I'm sorry alright? I wasn't going to lose you or anyone else!" Before anyone could respond, a flash of blue entered their vision.

"What's with all the lollygagging?" Five! Allison reached up, pulling him down next to her as another wave of bullets passed over head.

"What the hell?" Shouted Luther, "I thought you bail-" "I had an errand to run which you can yell at me for later when we aren't being shot at by the Commission!" Five disappeared in a flash of blue, reappearing on a gunman's back, causing him to turn and fire at the others behind him.

Klaus let out a manic yell before Ben formed into existence, releasing the Horror for the second time that night. Allison saw Diego run towards someone in the audience before disappearing from view, leaving her and Luther huddling in the seats while waiting for the shooting to die down.

After killing the last gunman a final scream tore from Ben as the Horror retreated back into his stomach while Klaus let him fade from existence. Leaving only Vanya center stage as she played. Luther shouldered past while Five gave Klaus a nod before joining him as Diego ran up.

"Where were you?" Five questioned,

"Kicking ass." Their brother replied. 

Vanya was still playing.

Her powers bled through the air, turning her dark suit a brilliant white.

"We need to stop her!" Shouted Luther, gaining their attention,

"How?" Diego asked,

"Whatever it ta-" "We're not killing her Luther!" Snapped Klaus and Diego nodded,

"He's right there has to be ano-" "If there is, I'm open to it! I don't like it anymore than you!" Allison frantically began tapping on their shoulders, gaining her brothers attention. She pointed towards the stage.

Five had jumped ahead. He was in the second row of seats before he jumped on the edge of the stage, close enough to Vanya that she seemed to notice.

It happened so fast.

There was a flash of bright light that seemed to engulf Five, then he was hanging suspended in the air.

Diego and Klaus ran forwards, trying to pull him down when another flash occurred and they were both hanging on either side of Five.

Luther took one last look at Allison, then ran forwards, but she paid no notice.

Instead, Allison picked up a handgun that had been dropped to the floor and moved to the side. She tried moving as quickly as possible and ran up the side of the stage, sneaking behind Vanya. How she managed to stand behind her with out being noticed, Allison will never know. All she knew was that her brothers were in front of her, in pain. She held the gun up and clicked the safety.

She hesitated. 

Tears were running down her face.

Allison took a breath, then fired.

BANG

The power that Vanya held inside her exploded outwards, breaking the skylight as she fell back into Allison's arms. 

Allison cradled her sister, feeling for a pulse as her brother's rushed on stage. Diego slid next to her, feeling Vanya's neck for a pulse and sighed in relief when he found one. 

"She's, she's alive?" Luther asked tentatively.

Allison nodded, watching as both him and Five sighed in relief. She turned her attention back on Vanya, smoothing the hair that had fallen across her face out of the way.

"Uh, guys?" They turned towards Klaus as he pointed upwards, "We have a problem." Allison glanced up, silently gasping at the sight.

A large, flaming chunk of the moon was hurtling towards earth at full speed.

"So that's it then?" Diego scoffed, "If only Sir Reginald could see us now. The Umbrella Academy. A total failure." Allison shook her head, holding Vanya tighter.

"At least we're all together, as a family." Five took a sharp breath at Luther's words and turned towards them. A dangerous glint in his eye.

"It doesn't have to be the end!"

"What does that mean Five?" Klaus asked, clutching his dog tags to his chest.

"I have an idea, a crazy one. But you have to trust me." He was met with a collective 'no', "Then we might as well say goodbye because we're about to be vaporized!" He spat.

Diego glanced up, then back at Five and asked, "What's the plan then?"

"We use my ability to time travel, go back in time to fix Vanya!" They looked at him confused.

"Wait, all of us?" Questioned Luther, "You can do that?"

"I've never done it with this many people," Five said, rolling his shoulders, "But we don't have a lot of options left!" Klaus was looking over his shoulder, then turned around and said,

"Ben says he's in."

That spurred the rest of them into action. Diego took Vanya from Allison, holding her as they stood in a circle.

"Wait!" They turned to Luther, "If Vanya causes the apocalypse, wouldn't it be like taking a time bomb with us?" Five sighed harshly,

"Vanya will always cause the apocalypse. But not if we find a way to help her." He stared at Luther, as if daring him to object. Luther's only response was a tight nod.

Five stood between Luther and Klaus, taking a look around before activating his power.

A large blue portal swirled over head as wind wiped around the siblings. Five shouted something but Allison couldn't hear it over the roaring in her ears. Her vision was filled with a blue light and there was a sharp tug, causing her to tighten her grip on Diego and Luther. She felt her feet lift off the ground as Icarus disappeared.

The roaring in her ears grew louder.

She felt her hold on her brothers slip.

Then she felt herself tumble through space. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the ending seems kind of rushed.


End file.
